Number of incidents vs number of RAIB investigators

With the three derailments in the past couple days I wonder; at what point does the RAIB struggle and become spread too thin across them all?

I would imagine that they have a decent amount, and I would be surprised if they investigated the Clapham Yard derailment - minor things happen in shunting environments all the time and are very rarely the subject of a report.

Question is will they investigate the derailment on the Volks Electric Railway yesterday?

aaronspence said:

With the three derailments in the past couple days I wonder; at what point does the RAIB struggle and become spread too thin across them all?

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This is a great question. I was wondering the very same thing.

The RAIB have 43 employees including 4 investigation team leaders and 20 investigators.

Investigators will likely prioritise overseeing the collection of time sensitive data, then anything that would be disturbed by the recovery process. Beyond that time critical task, capacity should only affect timely reporting of findings rather than the quality of an investigation. I have an idea they have a team either end of the country anyway so they may get cover to Essex even if they're still tied up at Lewes.

As pointed out above, Clapham Yard will likely just be a statistic. Doubt if they scrambled the helicopter for Volks either.....

TSG said:

have an idea they have a team either end of the country anyway

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They're based out of Derby and Farnborough, and they also have Accredited Agents from outside the branch but normally inside the industry who can record and preserve evidence prior to their attendance

No requirement for RAIB to be notified about sidings derailments if it doesn't foul a running line.