Monday Accident and Lesson Learned: Collision of Trains at Plymouth Station

In April of last year a train collided with an empty, still train that was waiting at Plymouth Station. The train that caused the accident was going 15 mph when it collided, and the conductor stated that he “misjudged” the amount of space he had to pull in behind the other train. He had also never operated a train so closely to another so he lacked the experience needed to complete the procedure. There were no fatal injuries, but 48 passengers were hurt and the two trains were damaged.

Corrective action: improve the training and assessment of new drivers, look at emergency door release controls, check procedure for permissive movements between trains

(Resource: https://www.gov.uk/raib-reports/collision-at-plymouth-station)