Train hits platform buffers at Chester

[Zoidberg]

The train failed to stop itself.

The concrete block (behind the buffer stop) stopped the train.

No, no, for whatever reasons, the driver was unable to stop the train at the appropriate position in the platform.

And the buffer stop had its inadequacies shown up - let's hear it for the concrete block!

 

[DXMachina]

The train failed to stop itself.

The concrete block (behind the buffer stop) stopped the train.

"The train transferred unjustifiable amounts of momentum to the station infrastructure"

 

[merlodlliw]

If it just carried straight on it would actually finish up on the Wirral line opposed to the North Wales line. For North Wales the train needs to make a deviation to the left after leaving Chester.

Remind me platform one,where on the station is it, next to platform three? Platform two is usually for Wrexham. Nat Rails station maps not alive for Chester.

my last recollection of platform one, used for the Crewe shuttles

 

[broadgage]

While not wishing to imply fault of any person, this accident has coincided with a noticeable cold spell coming in from the north. I'm near London and it hasnt gone above 3C all day, presumably Chester was colder yet.

I wonder if the rails had a glaze of ice on them. Would something as heavy as a voyager slip/slide on iced rails or do its advanced brake systems compensate for that?

Exceedingly unlikely to be ice, the weather though cold was not below freezing in most parts of the UK.

TPWS makes driver misjudgement very much less likely than in years gone by, so that suggests either leaves reducing adhesion, or mechanical failure as the most likely cause.

The high winds early today blew around large volumes of leaves, and even tracks earlier treated could well have been affected in a short time.

Earlier today I observed a train fail to stop in the usual place, presumably due to leaves.

 

[Crossover]

At least it wont cause much of a problem with stock shortages as there are two spare end coaches. I suppose a 221 (with disabled tilt) can talk to a 220 ?. Hope no one hurt - looks possible and that the driver is OK. Various reports of bad rail conditions around the country today. I see I have been beaten to it.

Yes, a 220 and 221 can couple together - XC do it regularly. In this case it won't be needed though, as Virgin only have tilting 221's and the spare powercars are thus also 221's.

At some point between this photo and this photo they turned the train around (I'm sure there's a technical term for when they change the lights from front to back). Are they just planning on driving off? Has no-one told the onboard team? =)

Just the headlights and markers have been turned off and the tail lights switch on instead. Tail lights likely to be on the other end too. I guess it wasn't top priority for the driver at the time :P

Looking at those photos though, and the intrusion onto the platform, I'm sure units with worse damage have been dragged off under their own power before. I guess it depends how stuffed the front bogie is now.

I am impressed by how quickly the incident was dealt with and services returned to normal. The 13:35 to Euston was only 11 minutes late.

In the grand scheme of things, since it has happened in a bay, it really shouldn't have affected Chester station too much (aside from being a platform down), whilst VT are now a unit down. As others have said, though, I suspect it will be out as a hybrid fairly soon...it would make sense to do so (if damage hasn't propagated through the coaches, of course)

The train failed to stop itself.

The concrete block (behind the buffer stop) stopped the train.

Then the buffer looks like it got thrown onto the platform too!

 

[Tracky]

Platform 1 is the east end bay, Platform 2 is the West end bay, between them is the concourse and new station buildings comprising Booking office, William Hill, cafe express and customer services office.

Platform 3 runs the length of with the a end alongside 1 and the b end along 2.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It's the bicycle I feel sorry for. It was probably only one day from retirement...

They are going to need a new set of buffers on P1.
Looks like it smashed the old ones to bits, and the flying debris has taken the bike out along with the fancy glass screens.
The area covered in debris used to be a public area (short cut to the car park) before the new ticket barriers went in, along with security glass screens making you exit through the barriers.
It's a pity there isn't a photo from the far side of the train (where the motor bikes are parked in the first pic).
This is the ATW catering/simulator area and is also a route to the east car park.
That would have shown if there was any shearing of the Voyager body.

 

[cymro inside]

in all probability this will mean new style buffers will be installed at platform 1 at Chester, set back from the current set it raises doubts as to whether a five car voyager will fit in platform 1 in future.

 

[northwichcat]

Remind me platform one,where on the station is it, next to platform three?

Yes.

Platform two is usually for Wrexham. Nat Rails station maps not alive for Chester.

As I said the train has to make a deviation to the left after leaving Chester so having the Wrexham ones start from platform 2 allows them to do that without the need to cross other lines first.

If the train just didn't stop when it was supposed to it would be meet by a red signal somewhere and then if it ignored that it would have to go whichever way the points are set to not derail.

 

[BestWestern]

I'm surprised there hasn't been any Voyager bashing gone on yet...

I dunno, looks like some pretty major Voyager bashing happened looking at those pics!

 

[Erniescooper]

Exceedingly unlikely to be ice, the weather though cold was not below freezing in most parts of the UK.

TPWS makes driver misjudgement very much less likely than in years gone by, so that suggests either leaves reducing adhesion, or mechanical failure as the most likely cause.

The high winds early today blew around large volumes of leaves, and even tracks earlier treated could well have been affected in a short time.

Earlier today I observed a train fail to stop in the usual place, presumably due to leaves.

I live a few miles from Chester and there were some pretty heavy hail showers through the day today .
The Daily Mirror has some pictures from different angles http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/chester-station-virgin-train-crash-2812395 and its given the platform a hefty bang and the concrete in front of platform 1 has gained a large hump . The front of the Voyager has gone up a fair few inches and picked the leading bogie up.

 

[ModernRailways]

Just been chatting with a friend who works for Virgin and apparently the Voyager is in pretty good condition for what happened and will be taken by rails to a nearby depot where it will receive some light maintenance before it heading back to a Bombardier/Virgin depot for new parts to be fitted.

Apparently, the train hit the platform doing around 10mph and had no grip meaning the brakes were fairly ineffective, this resulted in the train ripping the buffers clean off as if they were not even there.

Since they weren't there that is just what they have been told by fellow staff but it should be pretty reliable.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I dunno, looks like some pretty major Voyager bashing happened looking at those pics!

Ba dum tish

 

[Crossover]

I'm told that a colleague of one of my family members was on this service - most people were stood awaiting to alight and on the impact, some fell over, with others getting knocked over in the process. Sounds like the majority picked themselves up and continued for their connections

 

[westcoaster]

What a strange thing to happen in a bay platform, are rumble strips fitted to the track there?
Also looking on one of the train times sites the previous departure left 8 late even though it had been there a while, hopefully these are not linked.

 

[142094]

What a strange thing to happen in a bay platform, are rumble strips fitted to the track there?
Also looking on one of the train times sites the previous departure left 8 late even though it had been there a while, hopefully these are not linked.

Rumble strips are only to operate the track circuits, although a lot of people think they are to alert a driver to the buffer stops.

A collision with a brick wall at 10mph may still have caused a lot of damage, even though it doesn't look apparent in the picture. Hopefully the fibreglass front will have absorbed a lot of the impact.

 

[Zoidberg]

Rumble strips are only to operate the track circuits, although a lot of people think they are to alert a driver to the buffer stops.

A collision with a brick wall at 10mph may still have caused a lot of damage, even though it doesn't look apparent in the picture. Hopefully the fibreglass front will have absorbed a lot of the impact.

I don't think that fibreglass absorbs impact - rather it just smashes apart. Is it not usual that there is a shock absorbing structure covered by the fibreglass frontage which is designed to ... wait for it ... absorb the shock of/deform in a controlled manner in the event of, an impact?

 

[Cliveblackpool]

There was one at Penzance in BR days. The driver braked (it was doing less than 10 mph) and all the wheels on the train stopped, and it skidded around 300 feet into the stop blocks still doing at a few mph. Oil etc was a contributing factor.

 

[142094]

I don't think that fibreglass absorbs impact - rather it just smashes apart. Is it not usual that there is a shock absorbing structure covered by the fibreglass frontage which is designed to ... wait for it ... absorb the shock of/deform in a controlled manner in the event of, an impact?

Whatever it is then, or whatever it is made out of.

 

[PHILIPE]

Platform 1 is the east end bay, Platform 2 is the West end bay, between them is the concourse and new station buildings comprising Booking office, William Hill, cafe express and customer services office.

Platform 3 runs the length of with the a end alongside 1 and the b end along 2.

Platform 3 runs the whole length and has crossovers midway along to allow trains to cross to and from a through road to allow one to pass another either waiting at East End or West End and access the platform..

 

[Zoidberg]

Whatever it is then, or whatever it is made out of.

My post was not meant to be an attack on what you'd said. I sense that you may have inferred it that way. Sorry if it came across in a negative way.

 

[142094]

My post was not meant to be an attack on what you'd said. I sense that you may have inferred it that way. Sorry if it came across in a negative way.

No offence taken, can't recall the name of what the material is exactly (indeed I take it Voyagers have some sort of crumple zone).

 

[Tracky]

Platform 3 runs the whole length and has crossovers midway along to allow trains to cross to and from a through road to allow one to pass another either waiting at East End or West End and access the platform..

To be accurate the crossover is from the east end of the Up and Down main to the platform 3 line onto 3B. The crossover in the other direction was removed during the BR rationalisation...

 

[rm88]

I was on the 11.23 ATW 158 from Crewe to Chester, I nearly missed it. So I would have been on that Virgin Train. It was still there at 18.55 today.

 

[jon0844]

I bet there was a toilet smell coming from the front cab too today.

 

[blue sabre]

What a strange thing to happen in a bay platform, are rumble strips fitted to the track there?

Indeed, you would expect a train would be more likely to hit the buffers on a through platform.....

 

[YorkshireBear]

No imagining trains going in too fast.

It is leaf fall season i find it far more feasible that it skidded as has been suggested by others.

 

[TOCDriver]

I have my own theory as to what happened but I will wait until the report is published before I comment further.

 

[YorkshireBear]

I can't see there being any trees around a bay platform at Chester Station. I have my own theory as to what happened but I will wait until the report is published before I comment further.

Yes but the gooey pulp that gets on the rails may spread and fall off wheels while in bay platform.

The rail greasers used on the KWVR spread it along the entire branch!

 

[Manchester77]

Would it not be best to leave it to the experts (RAIB) to release their report as opposed to people speculate rather ridiculous things..?

 

[edwin_m]

Do Voyagers have sanders?