This report sheds light on the severe train crash that took place at Richmond in 2018. After describing this incident in detail, this report tends to make an analysis of the major reasons that have been causative agents for this train crash. Significant factors revealed in the analysis like irresponsibility of the railway staff and the engineering team have been also discussed in detail. Lastly, the necessary policy changes that the Sydney Trains department implemented as an outcome of this accident have been reflected in this report also.
A passenger train crashed with a railway barrier at the Richmond Station, located in outskirts of the Sydney town on 22nd of January at around 9:30A.M. Reports confirm that in spite of the driver being very much experienced, train got derailed after crashing the railway buffer, leaving the passengers in air for quite some time because of the sudden brake. The main affected person in this incident is the train guard with major chest and facial injuries, compared to the driver, who got only few minor injuries. This incident resulted in injury of 16 passengers, among whom 8 are critically injured and in later hours, one was reported dead. According to the locals, who witnessed the train incident by being at the station, stated that the driver jumped off the train just few seconds before colliding the barrier and a lady, who’s age is around 70s, immediately died on the spot after collar bone injury and these were not included in the official report by the investigating team (Zhao, S., Iranitalab & Khattak, 2018). As it was the early hours of the day, some people were standing on the edge of the platform to board the train, inspite of being aware of the fact that the train was travelling at a speed more than the stated one and a few of them got injured by the broken glass, which moved towards them as a aftermath of breaking of the window glasses because of the crash, but there is no reflection of these information in the official press release by the Sydney Trains Authority. Only a few daily evening newspapers have confirmed these cases of injuries.
Owing to the derailment and subsequent crash of the train at Richmond, the Railway Bureau of Sydney had decided to conduct an elaborate internal survey in order to assess the causes responsible for this accident. The foremost anticipation on the part of the local investigation department was that the driver would have been doped. Hence a drug and alcohol consumption test was conducted for the driver. However, reports revealed that the experienced driver was medically fit (Abc.net.au, 2018). He was also quite familiar with the route and had the necessary qualifications to run passenger trains on that route.
The official reports of the Railway Department confirms that no contaminants were discovered on the rail tracks also. There were also no issues regarding the windscreen or any chances of the glare of the sun rays paralysing the vision of the driver. The station master have confirmed that signalling system adjacent to the Richmond railway station was also clear. In fact, after the passing away of the last train and prior to the arrival of the first train of the day, the signalling system is checked on a regular basis. There is a residual engineering team at the station who is responsible for the maintenance of the signals, track and the engines.
The Forensic and video analysis team pondered in to the incident and confiscated the video footages for further analysis. The first analysis of the combined team formed for the investigation was that the train was approaching at a speed of 35 kilometres per hour, where as it was officially proclaimed by Sydney Trains Authority that the speed of trains just prior to entering the platform zone should be 20 kilometres per hour (Reddie, 2018). However, the certain reasons why the train was still running at a higher speed is yet unknown. The maintenance history of the trains under Sydney Trains have helped the investigators to shed further light on the incident. The brakes as well as the crankshaft maintenance was performed rarely and this is why, although the meter showed that the train was running at a low speed, the real speed of the train was higher than normal (Tabibzadeh, Khashe & Somaiya, 2018). The driver could have been aware of this fact. Otherwise, he could have perceived that he would be able to control and safely pause the train at the platform.
The Forensic investigation team also discovered that the hydraulic brake fluid was also not changed for over a month. This is one reason because of why the fluid potential to adjust the surface tension at the time of the application of the emergency, was lost. As an immediate impact, the crash occurred. The divisional rail staff have been allegedly found to disregard their duties, as evident from these investigation outcomes. The concerned engineering team has also been unmindful of their work and as an outcome of which the railway staff have been able to take their responsibilities lightly.
Policy and Regulatory changes
The Authorities identified that one major reason why this accident occurred could be that the guards, mechanics, drivers as well as the assistant drivers have been unmindful of their duties in recent times owing to the competitively less salaries of Sydney Train association. After this incident a discussion took place between the Sydney Trains authority and the Central Railway authority of Australia. After third day of the conference a policy change was confirmed. The locomotive and passenger train drivers as well as rail guards and assistants would be enjoying an increase in the Government wage-cap rate by 2.5% (Theguardian.com, 2018). Train drivers in many parts over the country have been on a strike also, seeking 6% increase in the wage rate.
A regulatory change have been implemented by the Sydney Trains also, along with the policy change. The train drivers would have a live speed permit for a respective zone. In case, if they violated the speed level, they would face penalisations.
Technological Implementations
The Sydney Train Authority have not wasted any time after the horrible incident, they made it mandatory that every train should be equipped with a GPS locator to track the real-time location and the current speed of the train running on the track. The Authority also stated that all the stations will be equipped with a person with a stated medical knowledge and medical kits to take necessary medical actions if this type of accident occurs in the future years and provision will be made to track the train from any station. The main improvement, which would help the locals to gain trust again on the authority is that, every train from now will be equipped with a touch sensitive controller to control the train speed (Zhao & Khattak, 2018). In any case, if the driver have not touched the controller for more than 30 seconds, the train will start decreasing its speed automatically and a radio broadcast will be made automatically to the nearby trains to clear the track for that train.
Conclusion
In this report, the Richmond train crash have been detailed in description. Analysing the case of this information, it can be concluded that it was a minor crash. However, the strategic flaws like the negligence of the engineering team or the railway staff have been greatly revealed through this incident. Moreover, the analysis of the safety breaches that led to the occurrence of this train crash, reveals that Sydney Trains were not updated in their technological implementations also. Nevertheless, the government and the concerned railway authorities have taken in to account the fact that the low wages have affected the workplace morality of the drivers and the helping staff. In the end, the government’s decision to change the wage policy can prove to be a highly supportive factor for reduction of the number of train crashes in the future.
Reference List
Abc.net.au, (2018). Richmond train crash: ‘Horrifying’ accident at station in Sydney injures 16. ABC News. Retrieved on 10 September 2018. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-22/sydney-train-crashes-at-richmond-station-injuring-passengers/9348398
Khan, W. A., & Khattak, A. J. (2018). Injury Severity of Truck Drivers in Crashes at Highway-Rail Grade Crossings in the United States. Transportation Research Record, 0361198118781183.
Reddie, M, (2018) Sydney Trains slashes Richmond Station speed limit by half after crash. ABC News. Retrieved on 10 September 2018. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-08/sydney-train-crash-at-richmond-station-report-released/9526950
Tabibzadeh, M., Khashe, Y., & Somaiya, P. (2018, July). A Proactive Risk Analysis Framework to Enhance Safety and Reliability in Railroad Operations: Assessment of the Positive Safety Culture Traits. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 625-636). Springer, Cham.
Theguardian.com, (2018). Richmond train crash: passengers injured at Sydney station. The Guardian. Retrieved on 10 September 2018. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/22/sydney-train-accident-passengers-trapped-and-injured-at-richmond-station
Zhao, S., & Khattak, A. J. (2018). Injury severity in crashes reported in proximity of rail crossings: The role of driver inattention. Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, 10(6), 507-524.
Zhao, S., Iranitalab, A., & Khattak, A. J. (2018). A clustering approach to injury severity in pedestrian-train crashes at highway-rail grade crossings. Journal of Transportation Safety & Security, 1-18.
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