Cannon Street station rail crash

Last updated

Cannon Street station rail crash
Cannon street station 2.jpg
Details
Date8 January 1991
Location Cannon Street station
CountryEngland
Operator Network SouthEast
Incident typeCollision
CauseDriver's error
Statistics
Trains1
Passengers832+ [1]
Deaths2
Injured542
List of UK rail accidents by year

On 8 January 1991, a packed commuter train failed to stop and collided with the buffers at Cannon Street station in London, United Kingdom, killing two and injuring 542. The cause was driver error, compounded by ageing wooden carriages.

Contents

Accident

The stopping service, composed of 10 cars of elderly Class 415 and Class 416 units 5618, 5484 and 6227, departed from Sevenoaks at 07:58, and had over 800 passengers on board after passing through the busy interchange at London Bridge. At 08:44 it collided with the buffer stop at the Cannon Street terminus within the City of London. The fifth and sixth carriages crushed into each other, lifting one off the tracks. A 24-year-old man, cut free from wreckage crushing his head and abdomen, died from a heart attack on the way to hospital. A 59-year-old woman died three days later from her injuries. 542 other passengers were injured, many because they had stood up ready to leave as the train entered the terminus platform. The inquiry put the impact speed at around 10 mph, higher than the rail operator's earlier estimates. [2] [1]

Inquiry

A report was compiled of the accident by Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate. [1] No fault in the train's braking system could be found and the driver, Maurice Graham, was held to blame. [2] He was not tested for drugs until three days after the accident, whereupon traces of cannabis were found in his system. The public inquiry found that there was insufficient evidence to prove drug use had caused the accident.

The inquiry found that the cause of the accident was solely that of driver error. The report also made the following observations:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glenbrook rail accident</span>

The Glenbrook rail accident occurred on 2 December 1999 at 8:22 am on a curve east of Glenbrook railway station on the CityRail network between Glenbrook and Lapstone, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Seven passengers were killed and 51 passengers were taken to hospital with injuries when a CityRail electric interurban train collided with the rear wagon of the long-haul Perth-to-Sydney Indian Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffer stop</span> Device to stop trains at end of track

A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British Rail Class 415</span> British Rail coaching stock

The British Rail Class 415 was a suburban 750 V DC third rail electric multiple unit commissioned by the Southern Region of British Railways. Built between 1951 and 1957, it became the most numerous class on the region after the withdrawal of the 4SUBs. The final trains were withdrawn in the 1990s, replaced by Class 455, 456, 465 and 466.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glasgow Bellgrove rail accident</span> Railway crash at Bellgrove, Glasgow, Scotland, in 1989

The Bellgrove rail accident occurred on 6 March 1989 when two passenger trains collided near Bellgrove station, Glasgow, United Kingdom. Two people were killed and 53 were injured. The cause was driver error, with a signal being passed at danger. The layout of a junction was a contributory factor.

On 21 July 1991, two commuter trains crashed just west of Newton railway station in Cambuslang, near Glasgow, Scotland. The junction had been remodelled in the month previous to the crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telescoping (rail cars)</span> Type of railway accident

In a railway accident, telescoping occurs when the underframe of one vehicle overrides that of another, and smashes through the second vehicle's body. The term is derived from the resulting appearance of the two vehicle bodies: the body of one vehicle may appear to be slid inside the other like the tubes of a collapsible telescope – the body sides, roof and underframe of the latter vehicle being forced apart from each other.

There have been a number of train accidents on the railway network of Victoria, Australia. Some of these are listed below.

The Glasgow St Enoch rail accident occurred on 27 July 1903. A train arriving at the St Enoch terminal station failed to stop in time and collided heavily with the buffer stop, sustaining severe damage. Sixteen people were killed, 13 instantaneously and 3 at a later time due to injuries received. 64 people were injured, of which 17 required hospital treatment. This was the worst buffer stop collision on British main line railways, though exceeded by the Moorgate tragedy on the London Underground.

The railways of New South Wales, Australia have had many incidents and accidents since their formation in 1831. There are close to 1000 names associated with rail-related deaths in NSW on the walls of the Australian Railway Monument in Werris Creek. Those killed were all employees of various NSW railways. The details below include deaths of employees and the general public.

The Wrawby Junction rail crash was a train crash which occurred on 9 December 1983, at Wrawby Junction, near Barnetby station, North Lincolnshire, England.

On Monday 23 January 1911, a collision between a passenger train and a coal train on the Taff Vale Railway line at Hopkinstown, outside Pontypridd in Wales, resulted in the loss of eleven lives. The accident, also known as the Hopkinstown rail disaster or the Coke Ovens collision, occurred at 9:48 am, when the 09:10 passenger train from Treherbert to Cardiff, heading towards Pontypridd and carrying about 100 people, rounded the bend at Gyfeillion Lower signal box with a clear signal ahead. The train collided with a stationary coal train that was using the same line. The impact caused the underframe of the front carriage to rise up and pierce the carriage directly behind it.

This is a list of significant railway accidents in Queensland, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hennenman–Kroonstad train crash</span> 2018 rail transit disaster in Free State, South Africa

On 4 January 2018, a passenger train operated by Shosholoza Meyl collided with a truck at a level crossing at Geneva Station between Hennenman and Kroonstad, in the Free State, South Africa. The train derailed, and seven of the twelve carriages caught fire. Twenty-one people were killed and 254 others were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Salisbury rail crash</span> Railway crash in the United Kingdom

On 31 October 2021, two trains, travelling on converging lines, collided at Salisbury Tunnel Junction, approximately one mile northeast of Salisbury railway station in Wiltshire, United Kingdom. Fourteen people, including one of the train drivers, were taken to hospital.

References

  1. 1 2 3 A Report of the Collision that Occurred on 8 January 1991 at Cannon Street Station, at The Railways Archive
  2. 1 2 "1991: One dead as train crashes into buffers". BBC News - On This Day. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
51°30′38″N0°5′26″W / 51.51056°N 0.09056°W / 51.51056; -0.09056