The United Kingdom’s Rail Accident Investigation Branch is probing the derailment of a passenger train following a collision with redundant rail near Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, on March 4.
Around 5:40 a.m., a passenger train traveling 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 traveling at around 85 mph when the collision occurred.
The train’s leading set of wheels derailed, but the train remained upright and came to a stand around 500 meters beyond the point of collision due to the driver applying the emergency brake. There were no injuries, but the train and several hundred meters of railway infrastructure were damaged.
The train was the first one along the Up Fast line following engineering work the previous weekend, which included recovering redundant rails.
The investigation will seek to identify the sequence of events that led to the crash and 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
The investigation is independent of any investigation by the railway industry or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, and the agency will publish its findings, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the end of its investigation.
