The former chief engineer of the Croydon tram network highlighted safety issues with the Sandilands tunnel almost a decade before a fatal crash killed seven people, an inquest into the deaths has heard.
The paper, which was considered by national body the Light Rail Operator Committee (LROC) in 2010, was inspired by two low-speed derailments at
He wrote: “In some circumstances, particularly long stretches of segregated track and isolated alignments where there are few visual clues as to location during the hours of darkness, there is potential for the driver to lose awareness of the distance to approaching hazards and it may become appropriate to consider the provision of advanced signage as a reminder”.
“I would cite two [examples] on Tramlink, namely the long section through the Sandilands tunnel which terminates in a 20kph curve and the single track section between
RAIB chief inspector
The tram toppled over when it rounded the curve at nearly four times the speed limit, shortly after
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Snowdon, who left the then Tramlink Croydon when
He said that the company had covered up – or “bagged over” – temporary speed restriction signs at
When asked what form the “hostility” took, Snowdon said: “It culminated in the signs that we put up, after considerable argument through panels, meetings, being promptly bagged over without notice to us.”
City A.M. has contacted TOL for comment.
Despite his paper, Snowdon, who now works for Network Rail, said he had not directly raised safety concerns about overspeeding in the tunnel during his time at the company.
But the revelations raise further concerns about safety issues at TOL, after a number of audits came to light revealing that the firm was aware of fatigue management issues on the network several years before the crash.
As City A.M. has revealed, these audits show that fatigue management had been highlighted as a problem on the network as early as 2014.
One such probe, which was being carried out at the time the crash occurred but was swiftly abandoned, was not even requested by the investigator during its probe.
A year later, another report was watered down by TfL executives in order to placate
The inquest, which was delayed several times due to the pandemic, is now into its third week. It is expected to run for 13 weeks in total.
The inquest continues.
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