Derailment near Walton-on-Thames, 4th March 2024

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

There is major disruption to the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) network following the derailment of a passenger train near Walton-on-Thames this morning, 4th March 2024.

The incident involved 2L10 0454 Basingstoke - London Waterloo. 2x four car Class 450s. Front wheelset derailed after hitting, it's believed, a displaced conductor rail. Significant damage has been caused to the infrastructure. No reported injuries to passengers or staff, all were safely evacuated. This was the first train through the area after overnight engineering work. The RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) are on site.

[ChrisB]

Train was doing 90mph at the time.

[JayMac]

Pictures from Network Rail Wessex on Twitter.

[Mark A]

Sounds as though it came to rest partly alongside an out-of-use platform at Walton and the passengers evacuated via the platform's stairs, which are covered by a rather informal corrugated structure.

Mark

[JayMac]

The train was re-railed late afternoon and removed from the area late evening. Wheelskates were used due to damage to leading bogie, and a diesel loco employed to haul the set away. Work continues into the night to repair the infrastructure.


https://twitter.com/NetworkRailWssx/status/1764727055457882179

[TaplowGreen]

Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.

[paul7575]

Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.

That was my initial thoughts as well, but has there been any more info about what happened made public at all?

[Electric train]

Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.

That was my initial thoughts as well, but has there been any more info about what happened made public at all?

Not that I'm aware of.  If it was caused by something NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or their contractors did or didn't do or by vandals it will be part of an investigation by the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about), RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) and potentially BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) as such a statement will be made to the public when they are ready to release it.

[grahame]

Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.

That was my initial thoughts as well, but has there been any more info about what happened made public at all?

Not that I'm aware of.  If it was caused by something NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or their contractors did or didn't do or by vandals it will be part of an investigation by the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about), RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) and potentially BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) as such a statement will be made to the public when they are ready to release it.

In public now ... BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Scrap rail left on tracks following engineering works was the cause of a derailment in Surrey, according to Network Rail.

The company said a train hit the object at about 05:50 GMT on Monday in a 90mph area near Walton-on-Thames.

A Network Rail Wessex safety bulletin said it was the first train on the fast line following the weekend works.

The incident initially closed four tracks between Woking and Surbiton before disruption spread across the South Western Railway (SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)) network for 24 hours.

[TaplowGreen]

Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.

That was my initial thoughts as well, but has there been any more info about what happened made public at all?

Not that I'm aware of.  If it was caused by something NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or their contractors did or didn't do or by vandals it will be part of an investigation by the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about), RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) and potentially BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) as such a statement will be made to the public when they are ready to release it.

In public now ... BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Scrap rail left on tracks following engineering works was the cause of a derailment in Surrey, according to Network Rail.

The company said a train hit the object at about 05:50 GMT on Monday in a 90mph area near Walton-on-Thames.

A Network Rail Wessex safety bulletin said it was the first train on the fast line following the weekend works.

The incident initially closed four tracks between Woking and Surbiton before disruption spread across the South Western Railway (SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)) network for 24 hours.

Very, very lucky. Could've been carnage.

Doesn't anyone check for things like this before leaving site?

[Electric train]

Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.

That was my initial thoughts as well, but has there been any more info about what happened made public at all?

Not that I'm aware of.  If it was caused by something NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or their contractors did or didn't do or by vandals it will be part of an investigation by the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about), RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) and potentially BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) as such a statement will be made to the public when they are ready to release it.

In public now ... BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Scrap rail left on tracks following engineering works was the cause of a derailment in Surrey, according to Network Rail.

The company said a train hit the object at about 05:50 GMT on Monday in a 90mph area near Walton-on-Thames.

A Network Rail Wessex safety bulletin said it was the first train on the fast line following the weekend works.

The incident initially closed four tracks between Woking and Surbiton before disruption spread across the South Western Railway (SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)) network for 24 hours.

I was aware of the cause Tuesday morning.

It would seem to be such a simple thing not to leave anything on the track after work; there is an inordinate amount of processes and procedures designed to prevent such things happening.  

Most if not all of the processes and procedures relies on the person in charge of a work site checking and reporting back to the person in charge of the possession their work site is clear of all tools, material, machines, personnel etc and its safe to hand back.
The person in charge of the possession will have multiple worksites all doing different work over often a very large length of railway, the work load on this person has increased since the prohibition on the use of unassisted lookouts to do work in normal traffic running, this has pushed more routine maintenance and inspection activities into engineering possessions.
 
There is the pressure to hand back the possession on time so as not to delay train services.

(A possession is the term used when a Engineering Department take over a section of railway from the Operations Department.  The person in charge of the possession is responsible for the setting up and handing back processes of the possession, controls all engineering train movements into and out the possession and authorises engineering train movements between work sites)

I would think the ORR and RAIB will be looking into the processes and procedures of handing back a possession.
 

[stuving]

To no-one's surprise, RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) have announced an investigation.

At around 05:40 hrs on 4 March 2024, a passenger train, travelling along the Up Fast line between Woking and London Waterloo, struck a piece of redundant rail on a railway access point on the approach to Walton‑on‑Thames station. The train was travelling at around 85 mph (137 km/h) when the collision occurred.

The train’s leading set of wheels derailed, but the train remained upright and came to a stand around 500 metres beyond the point of collision, as a result of the driver applying the emergency brake. There were no injuries, but the train and several hundred metres of railway infrastructure were damaged.

The train was the first one along the Up Fast line following engineering work that had taken place the previous weekend. This work included recovering redundant rails.

Our investigation will seek to identify the sequence of events that led to the accident. It will also consider:

    the planning and management of the work to recover the redundant rails
    the arrangements to ensure railway lines are safe for the passage of trains following engineering work
    the actions of those involved and anything which may have influenced them
    any underlying management factors.

[JayMac]

The RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) released it's report into this incident yesterday, 17th February 2025.

Two recommendations were made:

As a result of its investigation, RAIB has made two recommendations. The first is addressed to Colas Rail (in consultation with Network Rail), to review its processes related to collecting redundant material when working on or near the line. The second is addressed to Network Rail (in consultation with the Rail Safety and Standards Board) to review the rules and standards relating to how tasks delivered in complex work sites should be co‑ordinated and supervised and to create a coherent process for confirming that the line is safe for the passage of trains after the work is complete.

Additionally, two learning points have been identified. The first reinforces the importance of infrastructure maintainers arranging adequate site lighting. The second concerns the importance of railway organisations ensuring that guidance material relating to superseded standards is removed from resource libraries when new standards are issued.

Andrew Hall, Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents said:

"Following a passenger train striking redundant rail on the track in 2018, RAIB issued Urgent Safety Advice to Network Rail regarding safety of the line after engineering work. Since this advice was issued, RAIB has examined a number of further accidents caused by objects, including temporary road-rail access points and a trolley, being left on the track after the completion of maintenance work. These accidents caused damage to the railway infrastructure, the trains involved and resulted in temporary closures to the affected lines. This most recent accident at Walton-on-Thames resulted in a passenger train derailing at speed. Although no one was hurt on this occasion, the train could easily have deviated from the line of the track and struck other trains or objects.

Maintenance work is often carried out at night which makes ensuring the line is subsequently safe for the passage of trains particularly challenging. The risk is very clear. Unfortunately, this accident happened because that risk was not effectively managed. This, following other similar recent incidents, should serve as a stark reminder of the importance of effectively managing the risk of objects being left on the track after overnight maintenance."

The full report can be downloaded and read here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-042025-derailment-of-a-passenger-train-near-walton-on-thames