Near Miss at Worlingham crossing near Beccles, Suffolk, on 8 July. RAIB Report Issued

[soccermad]

Signalling error caused near miss at Suffolk rail crossing

A report says the train was seconds from two vehicles that had been authorised to cross the tracks.

www.bbc.co.uk

Near miss at Worlingham user worked crossing, Suffolk, 8 June 2020

www.gov.uk

 

[High Dyke]

I read through the report earlier. As usual Network Rail aren't painted in a good light; especially when you read about similar incidents, on the same line, in the last few years. The subject of User Worked Crossings (UWC) is always a subject of safety discussion. Looking at the report one of the factors examined was signaller workload, something identified after a previous incident.

Another issue is where the signalling is absolute block - a train could be anywhere within that block section and neither signaller may fully know the exact whereabouts. They rely on the honesty of the crossing user. There are still also cases where a user crosses without permission.

 

[Llanigraham]

I read through the report earlier. As usual Network Rail aren't painted in a good light; especially when you read about similar incidents, on the same line, in the last few years. The subject of User Worked Crossings (UWC) is always a subject of safety discussion. Looking at the report one of the factors examined was signaller workload, something identified after a previous incident.

Another issue is where the signalling is absolute block - a train could be anywhere within that block section and neither signaller may fully know the exact whereabouts. They rely on the honesty of the crossing user. There are still also cases where a user crosses without permission.

I suspect EVERY signaller can give you examples of that!
We knew it went on at one particular UWC (Bridle Path) we controlled but there was nothing could be done about it. Atleast the ones that had regular users caused less problems