A summary of the events leading to the collision at Salisbury Tunnel Junction
At around 1843 hours on 31st of October 2021 train one Lemma 53 the 1720 Southwestern Railway passenger service from London water Loa Honiton passed a red signal and collided with the side of train 1 foxtop 30 the 1708 Great Western Railway passenger service from Portsmouth Harbor to Bristol Temple
Meets the Collision took place at Solsbury tunnel Junction which is on the immediate approach to fisherton Tunnel near Solsbury in Wilshire the impact of the Collision caused the front two carriages of train one Lemma 53 and the rear two carriages of train one foxtop 30 to derail both trains continued some
Distance into fisherton tunnel before they came to a stop 13 passengers and one member of Railway staff required treatment in hospital there was significant damage to the trains and Railway infrastructure our investigation determined that wheel rail adhesion was very low in the area where the driver of
Train one Lemma 53 applied the Train’s brakes the brakes were not applied sufficiently advanc of the signal protecting The Junction to prevent the train running onto it given the prevailing level of adhesion before the brakes were applied the driver believed from experience of driving to London and back that day that
Wheel rail adhesion was unremarkable the braking systems on train 1 LMA 53 were unable to manage the very low adhesion although as far as could be determined they were working normally at the time the very low levels of adhesion were due to Leaf contamination on the
Rail head and wet conditions from a band of drizzle that passed over the area shortly before the accident our investigation found that leaf contamination was caused by an increased density of vegetation and the windy weather since the last rail cleaning train had passed through the area the previous
Day as a result of our investigation reib has made 10 recommendations these include recommendations on network rail to improve the management of leaf fall related low adhesion risk and training of Staff dealing with vegetation management a recommendation on Southwestern Railway to improve its arrangements for training and briefing
Drivers to ensure they are able to effectively identif if Y and Report areas of low adhesion and a recommendation that the rail delivery group in consultation with train operators and rail safety and Standards Board should review future Technologies to improve braking in low adhesion conditions read the full report and find
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