Modern Railways – April 2019

48 Modern Railways April 2019 http://www.modern-railways.com

Blood and Custard

ORR SELECTIVE ON SAFETY ACTION

THE OFFICE of Rail and Road

has been getting exercised about

the possible misuse of inter-car

connectors on the Azumas as

a ladder (p52). Concerns that

cables between cars could be

misused in this way were initially

raised over the Class 395 ‘Javelin’

trains constructed by Hitachi for

Southeastern High Speed services

on HS1. As we show in the picture

on p56, these sets were modified

by the addition of small panels on

adjacent vehicles which reduce

the gap between the coach ends

to make it difficult or impossible

for a person to access the inter-car

area and the cable loops.

Concern over misuse of the cable

loop was heightened following

the death of an intoxicated

passenger at Manchester Piccadilly

station on 1 December 2017. On

that occasion a young man who

was four times over the legal

drink-drive limit used the cables

between cars of a Pendolino

set to climb onto the roof of the

train, where he came into contact

with the overhead cables and

sustained a fatal electric shock.

Despite this, no instructions

have been issued by ORR for

platform staff to be more vigilant

with regard to such activities and

no instructions have been issued

regarding any modifications

to Pendolino vehicles. As one

industry source told us: ‘There are

questions over why no stations

have been formally briefed by ORR

despite the Manchester incident

suggesting it is a real situation.

It sounds like the modifications

made to the Class 395s when a

similar risk was identified may

end up being carried out on

the IEPs but it is a surprise that

modifications haven’t been

ordered for the Pendolinos’.

Pendolino puzzler: inter-car cables on a Class 390. Tony Miles

DIVERTED THROUGH DEVON

DURING THE period from Monday

18 February to Friday 8 March 2019

the line between Exeter St David’s

and Taunton was closed for repair

work in Whiteball Tunnel; during

this period most trains terminated

at Taunton or Exeter St David’s,

with a bus connection in-between.

A few trains between the West of

England and Paddington were

accommodated on the line from

Exeter St David’s to Yeovil Junction

for onward travel to Castle Cary, as

were the few freights which ran. It

was a double dose of disruption

for Plymouth passengers, as

at the same time there was

single-line working through Marley

Tunnel, between the summit

at Wrangaton and Totnes, for

engineering work through one of

the bores. Services were cut back

to reflect the reduced capacity.

East Devon diversion: the 09.16 Plymouth to Paddington

at Pinhoe on the South Western route on 19 February,

as it made its way towards London. David Hunt

Over-sharing PIS: passengers waiting at Plymouth for the 09.16 to

London on 22 February did at least have the thrill of knowing that they

would be routed via the Aish crossover for wrong line working, as the

passenger information system insisted on telling them! Barry Jones

Marley Tunnel: work on the track through the up bore is

evident in this shot from 28 February 2019. Chris Heaps

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