page_title: Grayrigg derailment
section_title: Incident
hierarchical_section_title: Grayrigg derailment / Incident
caption_attribution_description: English: Docker Garths Viaduct near Grayrigg, Cumbria, England.
context_page_description: The Grayrigg derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at approximately 20:15 GMT on 23 February 2007, just to the south of Grayrigg, Cumbria, in the North West England region of the United Kingdom. The accident investigation concluded that the derailment was caused by a faulty set of points on the Down Main running line, controlled from Lambrigg ground frame. The scheduled inspection on 18 February 2007 had not taken place and the faults had gone undetected.
context_section_description: The 17:30 Virgin West Coast Pendolino West Coast Main Line InterCity service from London Euston to Glasgow Central derailed at 20:15 at a faulty set of points almost immediately after crossing the Docker Viaduct (the rear half of the train would still have been crossing the bridge whilst the front derailed at the points). The train was reported to have been travelling at 95 mph (153 km/h) when it was derailed. The train consisted of unit 390033 City of Glasgow, which was constructed at Washwood Heath, Birmingham, in 2002, and nine carriages. It carried 105 passengers and four crew.
  Passengers said that the carriages of the train began rocking and swaying violently as the first coach left the rails. The momentum of the other vehicles caused the front of the second passenger carriage to jack-knife against the back of the first coach, eventually pushing it down the embankment and through 190 degrees, to face in the opposite direction to travel. The resulting forces led to the remaining seven coaches derailing, with all but one coming to rest in the adjacent field. The train was reported as being evacuated around midnight. Emergency crews scanned the train with thermal imagery equipment to make sure there was no one still inside. Up to 500 rescuers attended the scene, along with at least 12 ambulances, at least five fire engines, three Royal Air Force Sea King search and rescue helicopters, the International Rescue Corps, three civilian mountain rescue teams plus RAF Leeming Mountain Rescue Team, and one Merseyside Police helicopter. The rescue operation was hindered by rain, darkness, and access problems caused by the narrow country lanes and muddy fields. Emergency vehicles experienced difficult conditions, needing to be towed by farm vehicles or tractors after becoming bogged down in mud.
  The train's derailment caused severe damage to the overhead line equipment and tripped the entire circuit between Brock (near Preston) and Tebay resulting in a number of other electric-powered services coming to a halt and all signalling equipment immediately turning to danger (red) in accordance with the system's fail safe design.
  Live BBC television coverage at 08:15 the following morning showed that although the whole train had been derailed, the rear carriage was standing nearly upright on the sleepers and ballast. Standard class, the front five carriages, were the worst affected, and the rear four first class carriages were in better condition. The leading carriage, a driving motor coach, had headed down the embankment, and turned end-for-end as it fell. It was lying on its side at the foot of the embankment. The second carriage had jack-knifed against the first, breaking the coupling, and so had not followed it down the bank. This second carriage came to rest some distance further along the track, at a steep angle with one end in the air. The middle part of the train toppled sideways down the embankment, with a total of five carriages turning onto their sides. All the partially friction stir welded carriages remained structurally intact, with damage mainly confined to the crumple zones at their ends. None of the windows broke, and lighting remained in all the carriages. Most injuries occurred in the front two carriages. The driver, who had stayed at the controls (but had little option to move once the accident had started and had no prior indication of derailment), was trapped for about an hour while specialist cutting equipment was used to free him from his cab. The other three members of the crew were in the rear first class section of the train.
  Survivors were initially received at Grayrigg Primary School, which had been opened as a survivor reception centre. Hospitals in the area, including some over the Scottish border in Dumfries and Galloway, were put on standby, but not all received patients. According to BBC News, five passengers were admitted to Royal Preston Hospital in a critical condition. Police later released a statement revealing that one passenger, 84-year-old Margaret Masson from Glasgow, had died in hospital. Her
caption: Docker Viaduct carrying the West Coast Main Line just south of the site of the accident. The rear half of the train would have been crossing the bridge whilst the front derailed at the points immediately north of the bridge.
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