Network Rail didn't clean up after themselves it would seem and left equipment on the tracks for the train to hit.
That was my initial thoughts as well, but has there been any more info about what happened made public at all?
Not that I'm aware of. If it was caused by something
NR» or their contractors did or didn't do or by vandals it will be part of an investigation by the
ORR» ,
RAIB▸ and potentially
BTP▸ as such a statement will be made to the public when they are ready to release it.
In public now ...
BBC» Scrap rail left on tracks following engineering works was the cause of a derailment in Surrey, according to Network Rail.
The company said a train hit the object at about 05:50 GMT on Monday in a 90mph area near Walton-on-Thames.
A Network Rail Wessex safety bulletin said it was the first train on the fast line following the weekend works.
The incident initially closed four tracks between Woking and Surbiton before disruption spread across the South Western Railway (SWR» ) network for 24 hours.
I was aware of the cause Tuesday morning.
It would seem to be such a simple thing not to leave anything on the track after work; there is an inordinate amount of processes and procedures designed to prevent such things happening.
Most if not all of the processes and procedures relies on the person in charge of a work site checking and reporting back to the person in charge of the possession their work site is clear of all tools, material, machines, personnel etc and its safe to hand back.
The person in charge of the possession will have multiple worksites all doing different work over often a very large length of railway, the work load on this person has increased since the prohibition on the use of unassisted lookouts to do work in normal traffic running, this has pushed more routine maintenance and inspection activities into engineering possessions.
There is the pressure to hand back the possession on time so as not to delay train services.
(A possession is the term used when a Engineering Department take over a section of railway from the Operations Department. The person in charge of the possession is responsible for the setting up and handing back processes of the possession, controls all engineering train movements into and out the possession and authorises engineering train movements between work sites)
I would think the ORR and RAIB will be looking into the processes and procedures of handing back a possession.
