Report finds communication problems between teams at London Underground

A report has revealed that a train heading towards Ealing Broadway was given permission to pass a signal at danger with a set of points in the wrong position.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has just published its findings into the incident  which happened on March 2nd and found that poor communication and misunderstandings led to the derailment outside the station.

The RAIB investigation found that that the district line train had been held at a red signal since 12.35am because of a track circuit failure.

Staff had been trying to establish which points needed to be secured so the train could safely pass the signal and proceed to Ealing Broadway platform 7, where it could terminate.

It was travelling at five miles per hour when the derailment happened at 1.29am, there were 19 passngers and two members of staff on board - fortunately nobody was hurt.

RAIB's investigation found: '' Due to the inadequate level of information available to the service control staff, the poor relationship between the two control rooms involved, and a lack of understanding of the way in which the type of points involved were shown on the various available diagrams, the operational control staff did not identify the correct positions of all the sets of points that needed to be secured in the route. Consequently, the train was authorised to pass the signal at danger with a set of points in the wrong position for the route the train was due to follow.

''The service control staff were not completely clear, from the information available to them within the control rooms, which points they needed to set in which positions and so they asked the maintenance team for assistance. The two teams did not communicate effectively and did not reach a complete understanding of the requirements for the route.''

The RAIB has made three recommendations to London Underground Limited; to improve presentation of information to service control staff, review training for safety critical communications and to improve team working.

6th December 2016