The Southall rail crash occurred on September 19, 1997, on the Great Western Railway line at Southall, west London. Six people were killed and over 150 were injured. September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The original Bristol Temple Meads station, first terminus of the GWR, is the building to the left of this picture The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company, linking South West England, the West Country and South Wales with London. ... Southall is a London suburb in the London Borough of Ealing. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England and is the most populous city in the European Union. ...

The crash occurred after the 1032 Great Western Intercity passenger train from Swansea to London Paddington, operating with a defective Automatic Warning System indicator, went through a red signal (SPAD) and collided with a freight train leaving its depot shortly before 13:20 local time. First Great Western is a British train operating company owned by First Group, which operates services principally on the Great Western Main Line. ... A Romanian InterCity train, run by Romanian Railways, at Arad station in May 2003 InterCity is a name for the inter-city rail services in Europe. ... Swansea (Welsh: Abertawe, mouth of the Tawe) is a city and county in South Wales, situated on the coast immediately to the east of the Gower Peninsula. ... Paddington station or London Paddington is the name of a major railway station in the Paddington area of London, which is the London terminus for long distance trains to the West of England and South Wales and some West London commuter services. ... The Automatic Warning System (AWS) refers to the specific form of limited cab signalling introduced in 1948 in the United Kingdom to help train drivers observe and obey warning signals, yellow or green. ... Two-aspect signal at danger In railway terminology, a Signal Passed At Danger or SPAD describes an event where a train has run beyond its allocated signal block without authority, as indicated by a lineside signal showing danger. ...

If the AWS equipment on the HST passenger train had been working, the chance of the accident occurring would have been very substantially reduced, though not completely eliminated, since the AWS is only an advisory system. The driver's attention had been distracted and he did not observe the preceding signals visually but AWS would have given him a clear audible warning. Automatic train protection equipment would have almost certainly prevented the accident. The train was fitted with ATP but this was also switched off. At the time of the accident, the ATP equipment was not required to be switched on and had proved troublesome in service, and drivers were not required to be trained in it. Following this accident and the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, the train operating company Great Western now requires all its HST trains to have ATP switched on (if the equipment is faulty the train is taken out of service). AWS can mean Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc Automatic Warning System for railway use. ... This Virgin Trains High Speed Train is shown here running along the Dawlish sea-front. ... Automatic train protection is speed and distance supervision, usually intervening (usually deploying emergency brake, as a last measure) when the driver of a train omits to react on optical signals given from the wayside system. ... The Ladbroke Grove rail crash (also known as the Paddington train crash) was a British rail accident on October 5, 1999 in which thirty-one people died. ... First Great Western is a British train operating company owned by First Group, which operates services principally on the Great Western Main Line. ...

The driver was initially charged with manslaughter but the case was dropped. Great Western Trains was fined £ 1.5 million for not having a system to ensure high speed trains were not operated for long journeys with AWS inoperative.

In hindsight, the action of the signalman in giving the freight train precedence over the HST with the faulty AWS has been criticised. However, this was a perfectly standard manoeuvre, and he would not have been aware that the HST AWS was faulty. One possible solution might have been to have defined a train headcode that indicates a faulty AWS ^{[citation needed]}, for example "AWSF", and instruct signalmen to treat such trains with extra care, including giving such trains priority. However, the key point, as identified in the report, was that drivers had become increasingly reliant on AWS with single-manning and high speeds, and that it was no longer acceptable to run trains at full speed if the equipment was inoperative. Operating rules were changed accordingly. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Train reporting number. ... AWS can mean Akcja Wyborcza Solidarnosc Automatic Warning System for railway use. ...

External links

• BBC News On this day article
• Health and Safety Commission report by Professor John Uff published 24 February 2000. 14 MB pdf file.
• Report by the Health and Safety Executive on progress made on the recommendations of the original report (February 2002). 333 kB pdf file.

February 24 is the 55th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), reporting to the Health and Safety Commission, is the British government body responsible for the regulation of risks to health and safety in the UK. It was created as a result of the Health and Safety at Work, etc, Act 1974, and has since...

References

Hall, Stanley (1999). Hidden Dangers. Ian Allan. ISBN 0713719737.

Vaughan, Adrian (2000). Tracks to Disaster. Ian Allan.