Tube companies facing huge fine after driverless engineer train ran out of control for FOUR MILES

 
Dick Murray17 May 2012

London Underground is to be prosecuted after a driverless train ran out of control for four miles on the Northern line.

It sped through six stations, narrowly missing smashing into a passenger train, before before finally coming to a stop at Warren Street where the track goes uphill.

A flawed coupling broke while the 90-tonne train used for engineering work was being towed at Archway after it had previously broken down.

It began to roll backwards downhill picking up speed.

It "chased" a passenger train in front - the driver of that train was dramatically ordered to pick up speed and not stop at stations to get out of the way.

Only the quick thinking of two signallers prevented a catastrophic accident in the tunnel.

They saw something wrong on the panel which registers train movements and diverted two passengers trains out of the way.

The engineering train was being towed by an out of service passenger train at 10.2 mph, twice the maximum permitted speed of 5 mph, when the coupling broke.

It happened at 5.25 on Friday, 13 August 2010.

A passenger said then: "I was on the Tube ahead of the runaway train and we jumped seven stops. The driver told us that we had to move to the front of the carriage immediately as we had an emergency."

LU and Tube Lines, the private sector maintenance company responsible for the Northern line at the time, will be prosecuted under Health and Safety Act regulations by the controlling Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

Both companies - not individuals - face a huge fine. Tube Lines is now back under the control Transport for London (TfL.)

Mike Strzelecki, LU’s Director of Safety, said: “"We are very disappointed with the ORR’s decision to prosecute both LU and Tube Lines in this case, especially as we have already implemented those recommendations made by the independent Rail Accident Investigation Branch. This was in addition to recommendations made and acted on from our own report into the incident published in November 2011."

"LU has an excellent and improving safety record, with more than ten times fewer serious incidents on the Tube than in 2000. This has been achieved in part by ensuring that all significant incidents are investigated thoroughly and the root causes addressed."

Bob Crow, the RMT leader, said the engineering train had come "perilously close" to colliding with a passenger train. He said that at the time LU had tried to "downplay the potential consequences" of what had happened.

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