A train driver survived a horror crash by crouching behind the cab seat as the locomotive slammed into a fallen tree at 84mph after a warning call failed to arrive on time.
The tree trunk pierced the cab ‘around eye level’ and completely destroyed it, but the quick-thinking driver ducked out of the way just in time to avoid the worst of the impact.
A report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) found a member of the public had called a Network Rail helpline about the obstacle on the track near Broughty Ferry at 12.57pm last December 27 during Storm Gerrit.
But, 12 minutes later, the message had still not been passed to the driver, which meant by the time they saw it on the line, a collision was inevitable.
The tree was in a Dundee park and, after receiving the call about it, the helpline telephonist repeatedly tried to warn Network Rail’s Scotland integrated control centre.
No one there answered the calls until after the accident. The probe found the call handler did not have the centre’s priority number.
Horror: The train hit the fallen tree at 84mph
Destruction: The inside of the cab
The RAIB report said: ‘The driver was showered in glass and other debris by the impact. The driver only escaped serious injury by crouching behind the driving seat once they made an emergency brake application on realising the collision was inevitable.’
The driver only escaped serious injury by crouching behind the driving seat once they made an emergency brake application on realising the collision was inevitable.’
There were no injuries to the 37 passengers or three staff on board.
RAIB found the council’s failure to control the risk of the trees in the public park falling onto the railway was a factor underlying the accident.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: ‘Officers are looking at the recommendations made by the RAIB.’
The high speed 1A37 train entered service in the late 1970s.
The report added: ‘The construction and approval into service of HSTs pre-dates modern standards relevant to crashworthiness and, as rolling stock does not require ongoing permission to remain in operation, HSTs remain in service on the mainline rail network.’
