Rail investigators say track worker avoided being hit by train by just a second during ‘near miss’ in North Wales

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch has published a report on an incident which saw a track worker onlu narrowly avoid being hit by a train travelling at almost 75mph.

As previously reported by North.Wales, the near miss took place while the worker was removing icicles from the Llandygai tunnel in Gwynedd.

The man was one of two people requested to carry out an inspection of the tunnel by Network Rail at around 12.33pm on February 13 this year.

It followed concerns being about ice accumulating on the roof of the tunnel.

The other man was acting as site safety control and had arranged for the line being used by trains travelling east to be blocked.

However, the pair entered the tunnel on the line being used by trains travelling west and began using a long pole to remove the icicles.

They were spotted by the driver of the 10.25am passenger service from Shrewsbury to Holyhead, which was travelling close to the maximum speed of 75 mph.

The driver sounded the horn on spotting them at which point the site safety worker shouted that they were on the wrong line and managed to get to safety on the other line.

The other worker tried to do the same but fell over. He then managed to roll into the space between the tracks.

The driver saw that he was across part of the rail, and immediately applied the emergency brake and sounded the horn again.

CCTV from the train showed that the track worker managed to crawl clear with about a second to spare.

No-one was injured, but those involved were said to be badly shaken.

In its report, the RAIB said it was only the train driver sounding the horn which probably averted a fatal accident.

It said the incident occurred because neither the controller of site safety nor the track worker was aware they were working on a line that was still open to traffic and both had been confused over their exact location.

Investigators said it showed the importance of providing signs at access points so that staff can accurately verify where they are and which side of the railway they are on before they start working.

They said: “At site, the COSS referred to a list of access points in an extract of Network Rail’s hazard directory that he had brought with him, to confirm the names of the running lines.

“He picked out the access point named ‘Llandegai tunnel’ and, reading across, noted that the nearest track was the up line. Once out of his car, he showed this to the track worker.

“They both agreed they were at the Llandegai tunnel access point and, having taken the blockage, were safe to go on the line closest to them.

“The COSS had not been to Llandegai tunnel before and had used an online Network Rail asset management database on the Friday evening to make a note of its location: 237 miles 572 yards.

“When he called the signaller, he said he was at 237 miles 444 yards, having possibly used a track location app to work this out.

“However, while the COSS and the track worker were close to these mileages, they were actually at ‘Blake & Arnold’ access point and not Llandegai tunnel access point.

“It is not clear why the COSS did not confirm the mileage of the Llandegai tunnel access point in the hazard directory.

“The entry for the Blake & Arnold access point in the hazard directory correctly showed the nearest track as the down line, and not the up line as it was at Llandegai tunnel access point.

“However, their misunderstanding about their actual location caused them to enter the tunnel from the wrong direction and work on the down line, while believing that they were protected from approaching trains.

“Local residents explained that the boundary fence and gate at the Blake & Arnold access point were only installed in recent years.

“This is consistent with their condition. However, no signage had been provided identifying the location or the lines present.”