The Great Heck rail , widely known as the Selby rail crash , was a high-speed train accident that occurred at the Great Heck near Selby, North Yorkshire, England on the morning of 28 February 2001. High-speed trains and Land Rover collide on rails and trains slip. Ten people were killed, including the involved train drivers, and 82 others suffering serious injuries. It remains the worst rail disaster in the 21st century in the UK.
Video Great Heck rail crash
Events
The accident occurred at about 6:13 pm (GMT), when a Land Rover Defender pulled up a trailer loaded (carrying the Renault Savanna estate car) turning off the M62 highway just west just before the bridge over the East Coast Main Line. The vehicle ran 30 yards (27 m) down the dike and into the southern railway line. The Land Rover driver, Gary Neil Hart, tried to rewind him from the track, but he could not. When he used his cell phone to call emergency services after exiting the vehicle, Land Rover was hit by a GNER InterCity 225 post south of Newcastle to London King's Cross.
InterCity 225 is driven by Class 91 locomotive (No.91023) and led by Driving Van Trailer (DVT) No. 82221. After attacking the Land Rover, the leading bogie of the DVT slips but the train stays upright. Points to the nearest sidings then turns them onto the Freightliner carrier train line carrying coal and travel from Immingham to Ferrybridge which is pulled by the 66 Class locomotive (No.66521). The freight trains hit the ruins about 2,106 feet (642 m) from the impact of passenger trains with Land Rover. The impacts resulted in the near destruction of the lightest DVT and moderate to severe damage to the nine trainers of InterCity 225, which were largely reversed and stopped resting the dike to the east side of the track, in a field adjacent to the railroad tracks. line just south of overbridge ECM 2/7. The left locomotive remains upright and suffers minor damage, though it slips. Class 66 lost his boss after the impact, with debris from a DVT jammed beneath which broke his fuel tank. The cargo locomotive is then upside down to its left side which will rest in the residential garden adjacent to the line to the north of the same bridge. Locomotive suffered major damage to the cabin area and the right side. The first nine trains that followed suit also slipped and damaged to various levels.
Immediately prior to the impact of the two trains, the speed of InterCity 225 was estimated as 88 mph (142 km/h) and freight trains as 54 mph (87 km/h). With an estimated shutdown speed of 142 mph (229 km/h), the collision between trains was the highest-speed train incident occurring in England until the Ladbroke Grove disaster.
Maps Great Heck rail crash
Results
Both the train driver, two additional train crew on top of the InterCity 225 building, and six passengers died. Those who died were all killed by a second crash. The survivors included a train instructor (Andrew Hill), who traveled by taxi 66521 and taught a new route to the Class 66 driver, a driver with 24 years of experience.
Among those killed were:
- John Weddle, from Throckley - GNER Driver
- Stephen (George) Dunn, from Brayton - Freightliner Driver
- Raymond Robson, from Whitley Bay - GNER carriage guard
- Paul Taylor, from Newcastle - chef GNER
The trainers of InterCity 225 carry 99 passengers and train staff. In the morning 04:45 departure time from Newcastle resulted in reduced number of passengers. Like that, 45 of 52 passengers were seriously injured, and all eight casualties (excluding two locomotive riders) traveled on the first five coaches, which included a restaurant car and two first-class trainers with less crowded seats than standard trainers. A total of 82 survivors were taken to the hospital. Official incident reports praised the scarcity of coach Mark 4 at InterCity 225.
An unusual aspect of emergency response is the need to perform disinfecting procedures at the scene due to the British mouth and mouth crisis in 2001 in the UK.
Aftermath
Hart escaped the unharmed incident and was later on trial with ten charges of causing death for dangerous driving.
Locomotive No. 66526 has since been named "Driver of Steve Dunn (George)", to commemorate the Freightliner driver who was killed in the accident. It carries a plaque commemorating the accident - "In recall of a dedicated engineer Driver Steve (George) Dunn tragically killed in an accident at Great Heck on February 28, 2001". Dunn's son, James, who was nine years old at the time of the accident-then a train driver.
John Weddle, the GNER driver who was killed in the crash, was also honored through a new driver training school in his hometown of Newcastle, named after him. In a ceremony attended by members of his family, his 16-year-old daughter, Stephanie, launched a charter dedicated to the school to commemorate it.
Barry Needham, also a railroad employee, was also celebrated by naming 60087 after him, the plate was then moved to 60091. The locomotive also carried an explanatory plaque.
Incidentally, 91023 was also involved in the Hatfield train crash four months earlier. Locomotives run away with little damage on both occasions. After a technical upgrade of the Class 91 fleet, which caused all locomotives to have 100 added to number (91001 being 91101, etc.), 91023 was numbered back 91132 instead of 91123.
Legal process
Hart denied the allegations, claiming that his car suffered mechanical damage, or had collided with objects on the street. The investigation, including the Land Rover reconstruction to prove that it was not mechanically defective, concluded that Hart was driving in a state of sleep deprivation, and did not use the brakes while descending the embankment. Then it happened that Hart stayed awake the night before talking on the phone to a woman she met through an Internet dating agency. Hart later stated that although he had witnessed the impact between InterCity 225 and his Land Rover, he was unaware of a more serious collision with the freight train until informed by the police a few hours later. On December 13, 2001 he was found guilty and sentenced to five years, where he served a 30-month jail term.
The activists drew attention to what they claimed was the length of inadequate roadblocks of accidents along the highway. According to the final report of Executive Safety and Safety, Land Rover has left the road 30 yards before the barrier begins and easily penetrates a simple wooden fence lined the path. A 2003 Highway Agency's review of the roadblocks of accidents on bridges over railroads concluded that only three bridges across the country are in need of improvement. The bridge in the Great Heck is not one of them. In October 2003, Hart insurance company has paid more than £ 22 million. Insurance Gary Hart, by the name of Hart, sued the Department of Transport for contributing to the damage paid to GNER and the victims, alleging the causal rate on the grounds that the security barrier was inadequate (negligence contribution). The High Court judge ruled that the loss was too far away from any perceived deficiency with a standard national infrastructure, with due regard to the jury's verdict and previous fact findings.
See also
- List of train accidents in the United Kingdom
- Ufton Nervet rail accident - a similar incident in which a car driven to a level crossed by a suicidal man was attacked by the Intercity 125 High Speed ​​Train, resulting in seven deaths
- Polmont railway accident - a similar accident in which the train was driven from behind by a locomotive crashing into an object on a railway line
- the Hatfield train crash - previous accidents also involve the 222 InterCity supported by 91023
- Oxshott train crash - concrete mixer truck falls from bridge to train
- Glendale railroad crash 2005 - subsequent incidents also involving cars on tracks and collisions with other trains
References
Source
- Piggott, Nick; Mardsen, Colin; Milner, Chris; Longman, Jon (April 2001). "13 [sic] Killed in ECML disaster in Heck". Train Magazine . Vol.Ã, 147 no.Ã, 1,200. London, UK: IPC magazine. ISSNÃ, 0033-8923
- Track obstruction by road vehicle and subsequent train collision in Great Heck 28 February 2001 (Report). Executive Health and Safety. February 2002. ISBNÃ, 0-7176-2163-4 Ã,
External links
- The BBC News reported the crash and its aftermath
- Offline Rules - downloadable reports
- Highway Agency - crash report
- ONE LIFE: Sleeping on the Wheel at True North Productions
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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