The Rail Accident Investigation Branch have released their report into the derailment of a DLR train near Deptford Bridge station on 4th April 2008. The incident happened at 0522 when the train struck an object on the track and no one was injured as a result.
Units 87+62 were operating the first train of the day from Lewisham when the incident took place and overnight engineering work had been taking place in the vicinity. In the course of the investigation it was discovered that a steel drilling jig has been left on the track by the workmen involved in the engineering works.
The report concluded that the immediate cause of the derailment was:
* the train striking a drilling jig that had been left across the running rail and derailed
Casual factors were:
* the PICOW and the other drillers did not realise that the drilling jig had been left at site across a running rail
* there was no procedure requiring a systematic check that all equipment
representing a derailment risk was accounted for
* the PICOW did not undertake a systematic and adequate check of the work site
* the site working lights were switched off before items on the track were cleared, leaving the area in darkness
The report also makes a number of recommendations, including:
* Docklands Light Railway Ltd should implement arrangements to require that all organisations contracted to work on DLR infrastructure and stations should implement measures to improve the visibility of equipment representing a derailment risk when used at night
* Carillion JM Ltd should clarify the role of the senior PICOW to provide
them with guidance on the method, nature and extent of the supervision
of PICOWs that they are required to carry out
* Docklands Light Railway Ltd, in consultation with Serco Docklands, should introduce modifications to the control system to remove the need for controllers to manually enter temporary speed restrictions after the rebooting of the system(s) and to simplify the checking of the correct speed restriction data
* Serco Docklands should review its competency management system and the way in which it is currently delivering training to passenger service agents and control centre controllers. The objective of this review shall be to assess the adequacy of existing arrangements (including resources available for training and the methods of delivery) and to identify ways of improving the overall levels of competence. Serco Docklands should take suitable actions to implement the findings of the review
* The full report (including photos and the investigation and all underlying factors and consequences) is available on the RAIB website here.
Source: RAIB