The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) yesterday (Thursday) released its report into a collision involving a road-rail vehicle and a hand trolley on Island Line near Brading Station. The incident occurred in the early hours of November 22 last year.

During routine maintenance, a road-rail vehicle clearing vegetation struck a trolley used by a track repair work group, causing minor injuries to two workmen.

RAIB found that the collision happened due to oversight failures. The road-rail vehicle was coming downhill and was unable to stop in time. Although the workmen managed to get the trolley off the track it was not far enough away to avoid a collision with the vehicle. The trolley then hit two workmen, causing minor injuries. Both attended hospital later that day and were discharged after treatment.

The investigation uncovered that the controller of site safety had not been informed of the vehicle’s approach, the vehicle’s operator could not stop in the expected distance despite seeing the workmen. Underlying this were inadequate processes by South Western Railway (SWR) for planning and managing on-track plant movements and risks during maintenance.

RAIB has recommended SWR to improve its risk assessments and bring in new measures to manage on-track work more effectively introducing industry codes of practice and ensure accurate information is available to staff and contractors about its infrastructure.

The company has also been advised to improve its post-accident processes, including reporting incidents to RAIB.

An SWR spokesperson said: “Safety is always of paramount importance to SWR and we welcome today’s report from RAIB into the incident at Brading in November 2023. We have accepted the report in full and have made good progress in implementing its recommendations to improve processes, assurance, risk management and ultimately safe operations on the Island Line.”