Great Western Coffee Shop

The RAIB is carrying out an investigation into an incident which occurred at Durham station on the East Coast Main Line on Sunday 10 April 2011.
At about 12:30 hrs, a final drive cardan shaft dropped onto the track from an empty passenger train travelling from Neville Hill depot (Leeds) to Heaton depot (Newcastle). During the incident, which occurred while the train was travelling at approximately 75mph (120 km/h), a member of the public sustained a minor injury from a piece of ballast thrown up onto the platform.

The train involved was formed of two 2-car Class 142 units.  The shaft detached at the front end of the third vehicle and was not held up by its retention devices.  It damaged the underside of the third and fourth vehicles, piercing the fuel tank on the fourth vehicle and releasing the contents onto the railway.

Since October 2010 there have been a number of incidents of cardan shafts failing on similar types of train.  In one other case, the broken shaft was not retained and fell from the train.

The RAIB investigation will examine the sequence of events leading up to the incidents, the design, maintenance and overhaul of the cardan shaft and final drive, the design of the cardan shaft restraining straps and other factors which may have affected the incidents.

Affected parties within the rail industry have been informed of the investigation and are assisting the RAIB in establishing the cause of the incidents.

The RAIB^s investigation is independent of any investigations by the safety authority (the Office of Rail Regulation).

The RAIB will publish a report, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of its investigation.  This report will be available on the RAIB website.

http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/current_investigations_register/110410_durham.cfm

Northern have apparently restricted Pacers to 60mph running while investigations are taking place.

In a station I'd normally expect to be fairly well protected from an incident of this sort - the combination of the vehicle and the platform face should mean that it's quite difficult to be hit by a piece of ballast.

But presumably here the Pacer was on the through line in the middle of the station. And doing 75 mile/h!

I hope these pacers will all be gone by 2020, hopefully the WAG will electrify the valley lines and maybe Northern/FGW could get some class 172's to replace their pacers