Shropshire Star

Shropshire railway worker leapt from path of 85mph train

A railway worker leapt for his life with only moments to spare as an 85mph midnight train bore down on him in Shropshire.

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The worker escaped with minor injuries after jumping from the welder's trolley on which he was loading tools when the Arriva Trains Wales train approached.

The welder had just two to three seconds to spare before the train struck the trolley at the Bridgeway crossing near Shrewsbury in Shropshire at 11.58pm on January 16, 2014.

The trolley was destroyed and the front of the train, going from Crewe to Shrewsbury, was badly damaged.

The driver, conductor and the one passenger aboard were unhurt.

Full details of what happened have been set out in an accident report published yesterday.

The report, compiled by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), said the accident occurred because the trolley was placed on a line that had not been blocked to trains.

The site controller had blocked the opposite line on the advice of the welder, who had been misled by the presentation of information in the paperwork describing the safety arrangements for the job.

The RAIB said the welder later realised that the work was actually on the line that had not been blocked, but he still placed his trolley on that line believing that no train would approach because of engineering work taking place elsewhere in the area.

The RAIB made a number of recommendations to ensure such an incident does not happen again.

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