Great Western Coffee Shop

Replacement bus service running on First Great Western between Newquay and Par due to incident at a level crossing. A train has hit a car at a level crossing. Trains are unable to run while the emergency services deal with the incident. This will continue until the end of service

Line problem: between Par and Newquay. Following an earlier problem at a level crossing between Par and Newquay all lines will be reopened shortly.

Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled at short notice. Disruption is expected until 22:15 19/01.

Customer Advice:
Replacement road transport services are conveying passengers between Par and Newquay in both directions until further notice.

Cornwall woman 'lucky' to escape car and train crash

A woman escaped uninjured after her car and a train collided at a level crossing near Newquay in Cornwall.

Police who were called to the crossing at Trencreek Road, Trencreek at 19:40 GMT said no-one was believed to have been injured.

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57994000/jpg/_57994419_trainforonline.jpg)

The railway line is a local branch line and the collision involved a single carriage First Great Western train.

Driver Sarah Frampton of St Newlyn East said she had not seen the warning and was "lucky to be alive".

She said: "I've been rushed off my feet all day and was not aware that there was a warning at the crossing.

"I don't often come down that road.

"I was travelling fairly slowly and out of the blue saw the train.

"I slammed on the brakes, but it was coming too fast and hit me.

"It was quite overwhelming how close I was.

"I am very thankful to be alive."

British Transport Police are investigating at the scene, where a tractor and train collided in 2003.

A police spokesman said: "There appears to be no persons injured and the scene has been secured awaiting the arrival of British Transport Police officers who will have primacy over the investigation."

A big relief that the consequences were not more serious. Two observations...

1. Ms Frampton may have been wiser to keep her own counsel pending any investigation rather than talking to a newpaper.
2. The RAIB might have something to say about the quotation from plod in the last sentence of that article.

What's the problem with the police quote?

'I slammed on the brakes, but it was coming too fast and hit me'

I may be wong but I thought the mentioned 2003 incident between a tractor and a HST was at Coswarth level crossing not Trencreek.

A spokesman said: "The driver of the car will be spoken to by BTP officers to establish whether any offences have occurred under the Road Traffic Act."

British Transport Police are investigating at the scene, where a tractor and train collided in 2003.

A train has been derailed in Cornwall after colliding with a tractor on a level crossing.

The accident happened at 1608 BST on Saturday on the Newquay to Par branch line at Chapel, close to the Trencreek Crossing, near Newquay.

An investigation is under way after a tractor was crushed by a train in Cornwall.

The accident happened on Saturday afternoon on the Newquay to Par branch line.

The train was derailed on a cattle crossing near Quintrell Downs and took several hours to clear.

Inspector Kevin Marshall from British Transport Police says the tractor driver was "very lucky" to escape with shock and head injuries.
   
The accident happened at 1608 BST on the Newquay to Par branch line at Chapel, close to the Trencreek Crossing, near Newquay.

Could have this wrong but I was under the distinct impression that RAIB would have primacy over the accident site, not plod. That said I've got slightly lost in the mire of RAIB/ORR/BTP and who takes priority over whom in given circumstances. Better do a bit of revision because I'm supposed to know this stuff...  :-[

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is the independent railway accident investigation organisation for the UK. It investigates railway accidents and incidents on the UK's railways to improve safety, not to establish blame.

Our purpose for investigating an accident or incident is to improve the safety of the railways, and to prevent further accidents from occurring.

We achieve this by identifying the causes of accidents and other aspects that made the outcome worse.

Our investigations are entirely independent and are focused solely on safety improvement - we do not apportion blame or liability, nor do we enforce law or carry out prosecutions.

Carolyn Griffiths, Chief Inspector of Rail Accidents

Oops, I didn't see the signs and flashing lights: Woman 'lucky to be alive' after driving into path of oncoming train
- Driver will be questioned by British Transport Police
- Says of horror crash: 'I'd been rushed off my feet all day and was not aware there was a warning'

A woman driver has said she is 'thankful to be alive' after she drove her car onto a level crossing.

Sarah Frampton, 28, failed to spot any of the flashing lights, claxons and warning signs as she drove towards the crossing in Trencreek, Cornwall.

She pulled onto the tracks and suddenly spotted a single carriage First Great Western train hurtling down the local branch line towards her.

The train ripped the front off her Peugeot 406 and span it around on its axis - but Miss Frampton managed to walk away without a scratch.

There were just two passengers on the 19.25 Newquay to Par service, who were uninjured as the train was not derailed.

Miss Frampton, from nearby St Newlyn East, Cornwall, said she desperately tried to brake her car when she saw the train but could not stop before the impact.

She said: 'I'd been rushed off my feet all day and was not aware that there was a warning at the crossing.

'I don't often come down that road. I was travelling fairly slowly and out of the blue saw the train.

'I slammed on the brakes, but it was coming too fast and hit me. It was quite overwhelming how close I was. I am very thankful to be alive.'

Police were immediately called after the incident, which happened at 7.40pm yesterday, and officers arrived at the scene in just six minutes.

The accident happened at the Trencreek Road level crossing on the Newquay to Par branch line, a 21-mile route which links the popular tourist town to the mainline through Cornwall.

A spokesman for Network Rail said the crossing did not have barriers but was controlled automatically.

He said: 'The crossing has no physical barriers but there are flashing lights, signs and an audible klaxon to warn drivers that a train is approaching.

'Tests are currently being carried out but there is no indication that there was any problem with the equipment. It seemed to be in full working order.'

A spokesman for the British Transport Police said Miss Framton will now face questioning by officers to ascertain whether any laws were broken.

He said: 'Officers are investigating the incident and enquiries are on-going today to establish the full circumstances which led up to the collision.

'No one suffered any injuries at the scene.

'The single-carriage train was travelling at low speed and remained upright on the tracks. Only two passengers were on board the train at the time of the collision.

'The driver of the car, a 28-year-old woman, will be spoken to by BTP officers to establish whether any offences have occurred under the Road Traffic Act.

'The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has been informed.'

... a single carriage First Great Western train hurtling down the local branch line ...

The single-carriage train was travelling at low speed and remained upright on the tracks.

Just as a matter of interest: what is the line speed through this crossing?

Lucky to be alive after train hits car in Newquay

A driver said she was lucky to be alive after her car overshot a level crossing and was hit by a passenger train.

Sarah Frampton's car collided with the First Great Western single-carriage train in Newquay, Cornwall, at 7.40pm yesterday. The car was spun around and badly damaged, but Ms Frampton walked away shaken but unhurt.

The 28-year-old, from the nearby village of St Newlyn East, told BBC Spotlight news she had not noticed the warnings at the crossing and by the time she saw the train, it was too late to stop.

A WOMAN whose car collided with a train on a level crossing near Newquay has been given a 56-day driving ban.

Facing Bodmin magistrates on April 11, interior designer Sarah Frampton, aged 28, of Station Road, St Newlyn East, admitted careless driving at Trencreek on January 19.

She was also fined ^275 with ^85 costs and a ^15 surcharge.

Jenny Kumeta, for the prosecution, said Frampton was at the wheel of a Peugeot 406.

She turned into Trencreek Road and approached the level crossing, which has no barrier and is controlled by warning lights and signs.

The lights were flashing but Frampton's car collided with a single-carriage train being driven from the direction of Newquay station by Rosemary Milne. There was minor damage to the train.

Ms Milne later said that the train had been halfway across the crossing when it was hit by the Peugeot. She braked and stopped the train.

Frampton got out of the car, apparently unhurt, and said she had seen the red lights but had not known what they meant.

She later told police it had been dark at the time and she had been driving slowly. She saw the train and slammed her brakes on. "It passed me but hit me as it went past," she said.

The British Transport Police instructed engineers to inspect the crossing controls and they found it was operating correctly at the time of the crash.

Frampton admitted the offence in an interview, saying it had been her fault and that she was sorry.

She told the court that she was a very careful driver and wished to apologise.

"This has been a shock to me," she said. "I'm intently more aware and focused.

"I've been driving for ten years and nothing like this has happened before and it will never happen again."

She explained that she travelled 12,000 miles a year and needed her car to visit clients, as well as to travel to Truro, where she was based.