The Rail Accident Investigation Branch have launched an investigation after a tram in Croydon managed to depart two consecutive stops with all four doors on one side open. The incident happened on 13 April when the tram – believed to be a CR4000 – was operating a service to Beckenham Junction.
A number of problems had been experienced by the tram at the start of its journey due to a succession of fault indications in the cab alerting the driver to a potential problem with a parking brake on one of the tram’s bogies. The driver spoke to the controller each time these warnings were found and after given instructions on how to solve the issue was able to continue with the journey. It is believed (although not confirmed so presumably that is part of what will be investigated by the RAIB) that during these discussions a switch was operated in the driving cab which had the effect of by-passing some safety systems on the tram. This included the door interlocking arrangements that would normally prevent the tram from moving with one or more doors open.
At Lebanon Road tramstop the driver contacted the controller again and the tram then managed to depart the tramstop with all four doors on the left-hand side open. As it continued its journey three of the four doors automatically closed (as part of the design the doors are scheduled to close after two minutes) and the tram reached a maximum speed of 17mph (27 kmh) before arriving at Sandilands. At Sandilands the driver and controller were still unaware of the problem (it seems strange that no-one on board the tram thought to mention it to the driver!) and were focused on dealing with the parking brake fault. On departure from Sandilands all four of the left-hand side doors were open once again but as the controller was now monitoring the tram’s departure on CCTV he noticed and ordered the driver to stop the tram. The driver closed the doors proceeded to the next stop and the tram was then taken out of service.
No-one was injured as a result of the doors not being closed although the initial report suggests that there were passengers standing in the proximity of the open doors. The RAIB will now conduct a full investigation into the incident before publishing a full report into the causes and giving recommendations for the future. Judging by previous reports expect this to be released sometime in 2014.