RAIB report into 2013 Norwich collision

[edwin_m]

The driver would have been advised by the signalling the platform was occupied. A driver cannot tell from thr signalling how many carriages are in the platform just that he is being signalled into an occupied platform.

I agree. But the report says the driver could see the number of vehicles in the platform in good time to shop short of them. This was not a case of failure to recognise where to stop but a failure to act on that recognition. The same could have happened with the train being signalled into any of the platforms already containing any number of vehicles. It could probably even have happened as a buffer stop collision if the platform was empty.

The only way the train not fitting into the platform contributed to the accident was that the driver realised this would be the case and was considering whether he should alert the conductor (who had in fact already been alerted by the station staff). This distraction might have been one cause of the driver's loss of concentration.

 

[LowLevel]

The driver would have been advised by the signalling the platform was occupied. A driver cannot tell from thr signalling how many carriages are in the platform just that he is being signalled into an occupied platform.

What's the mantra about proceeding on the authority of a calling on/ subsidiary signal - 'be prepared to stop short of any obstruction'. The nature and location of said obstruction is irrelevant.