jan2019e.qxp_RMT 20/12/2018 16:33 Page 10
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DÉJÀ VU AT WATERLOO
Report into a collision at London Waterloo reveals parallels with the 1988 Clapham disaster which killed 35 people
DISASTER: “Parallels with the 1988 Clapham Junction accident show that some of the lessons learnt from this accident are fading from the railway industry’s collective memory” – RIAB report
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Shortly before the 30th anniversary of the 1988 Clapham Junction rail crash last month the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) released its report into a collision at London Waterloo on August 15 2017. The RAIB warned that “parallels with the 1988 Clapham Junction accident show that some of the lessons learnt from this accident are fading from the railway industry’s collective memory”. No-one was hurt in the incident, but the report found mistakes made were similar to those which caused the fatal crash at Clapham Junction. It found that a passenger train had been diverted from its intended route because a set of points - movable sections of track which allow trains to transfer from one line to another - were incorrectly positioned due to "uncontrolled wiring" being added to the signalling system. This happened after contractor OSL Rail Ltd failed to meet expected standards and "did not fully consider the potential consequences" of adding the wiring, the report said. An "underlying factor" in the collision was that Network Rail and its contractors had failed to address the "full requirements" of the staff responsible for the signalling work. Network Rail described the
