Buffer stop collision at Enfield Town 12 October 2021

[Chris M]

About 8:15am today a Class 710 London Overground train hit and overrode the buffers at Enfield Town. There are currently no reports I can find about injuries.
www.mylondon.news/news/north-london-news/live-updates-train-crashes-through-21830793

Edit: There were two minor injuries but nothing more serious according to a London Ambulance Service statement.

[grumpycat]

Oct 12, 2021 8:44:32 GMT Chris M said:

About 8:15am today a Class 710 London Overground train hit and overrode the buffers at Enfield Town. There are currently no reports I can find about injuries.
www.mylondon.news/news/north-london-news/live-updates-train-crashes-through-21830793

Edit: There were two minor injuries but nothing more serious according to a London Ambulance Service statement.

From what I have heard from someone I know in control the driver is fine apart from a few scrapes.

[plasmid]

Those buffers look quite old, perhaps not up to the task even.

[Chris M]

Yes and no - they prevented the train hitting the station building, which would likely have resulted in more injuries (although being an early-morning contra-peak train helped with that considerably too), but they didn't restrain the train completely.
Modern friction buffers are designed to slide along the track for some distance gradually slowing the train rather than bringing it to an abrupt stop. However, installing these at Enfield Town would mean moving the stopping point quite a way towards London and I don't know whether that can be done without platform extensions, and in turn I don't know how close the current platforms are to pointwork. Google Maps air photo conveniently includes an 8-car train in platform 2. Very approximately there is about 3.5 metres between the north of the train (which I will assume is at the stopping mark) and the buffers and about 4.5 metres between the buffers and the wall of the station building. There is about 14 metres between the south end of the train and the platform end barriers. While you could hang over that slightly with the cab, I think any significant distance is going to make signal sighting difficult.
That gives a total of about 21 metres maximum between the end of the train and the station building. For reference, the buffers for the LO platforms at Stratford are approximately 14 (p1) and 19 (p2) metres from the first solid object, but the apparent stopping marks are 84m and 11m respectively from those buffers.

[andypurk]

Oct 13, 2021 1:44:10 GMT Chris M said:

Yes and no - they prevented the train hitting the station building, which would likely have resulted in more injuries (although being an early-morning contra-peak train helped with that considerably too), but they didn't restrain the train completely.
Modern friction buffers are designed to slide along the track for some distance gradually slowing the train rather than bringing it to an abrupt stop. However, installing these at Enfield Town would mean moving the stopping point quite a way towards London and I don't know whether that can be done without platform extensions, and in turn I don't know how close the current platforms are to pointwork. Google Maps air photo conveniently includes an 8-car train in platform 2. Very approximately there is about 3.5 metres between the north of the train (which I will assume is at the stopping mark) and the buffers and about 4.5 metres between the buffers and the wall of the station building. There is about 14 metres between the south end of the train and the platform end barriers. While you could hang over that slightly with the cab, I think any significant distance is going to make signal sighting difficult.
That gives a total of about 21 metres maximum between the end of the train and the station building. For reference, the buffers for the LO platforms at Stratford are approximately 14 (p1) and 19 (p2) metres from the first solid object, but the apparent stopping marks are 84m and 11m respectively from those buffers.

One consideration to add is that the class 710 unit don't have the buffers to interact with the buffer stops! If you compare the stops at Enfield with those designed for more modern stock, for example at Euston, you'll see there is pocket designed for the coupler. The coupler is designed to absorb quite a lot of the energy in a low speed collision, but won't work so well if not captured.

There is probably room for the type of friction buffers, with coupler pockets as seen at Euston, to be fitted at Enfield Town. These only take a few metres of space. From the Sectional Appendix the platforms are all >180m (equivalent to 9 x 20m coaches) and the class 710 4-car units are just under 83m long. It is possible that the signal positions may need to be adjusted, but as the class 710s are not gangwayed, there may not be so much of an issue for signal sighting compared with the class 317 units which ran some of the services in the past.

[Dom K]

The 0924 will be the first train from Enfield Town and will depart from Platform 2. I popped in as it’s my local station but couldn’t wait for this train (it will leave about 10m late) as I had to go to work.

Might get to see it later today

[100andthirty]

Oct 13, 2021 2:46:15 GMT andypurk said:

Oct 13, 2021 1:44:10 GMT Chris M said:

Yes and no - they prevented the train hitting the station building, which would likely have resulted in more injuries (although being an early-morning contra-peak train helped with that considerably too), but they didn't restrain the train completely.
Modern friction buffers are designed to slide along the track for some distance gradually slowing the train rather than bringing it to an abrupt stop. However, installing these at Enfield Town would mean moving the stopping point quite a way towards London and I don't know whether that can be done without platform extensions, and in turn I don't know how close the current platforms are to pointwork. Google Maps air photo conveniently includes an 8-car train in platform 2. Very approximately there is about 3.5 metres between the north of the train (which I will assume is at the stopping mark) and the buffers and about 4.5 metres between the buffers and the wall of the station building. There is about 14 metres between the south end of the train and the platform end barriers. While you could hang over that slightly with the cab, I think any significant distance is going to make signal sighting difficult.
That gives a total of about 21 metres maximum between the end of the train and the station building. For reference, the buffers for the LO platforms at Stratford are approximately 14 (p1) and 19 (p2) metres from the first solid object, but the apparent stopping marks are 84m and 11m respectively from those buffers.

One consideration to add is that the class 710 unit don't have the buffers to interact with the buffer stops! If you compare the stops at Enfield with those designed for more modern stock, for example at Euston, you'll see there is pocket designed for the coupler. The coupler is designed to absorb quite a lot of the energy in a low speed collision, but won't work so well if not captured.

There is probably room for the type of friction buffers, with coupler pockets as seen at Euston, to be fitted at Enfield Town. These only take a few metres of space. From the Sectional Appendix the platforms are all >180m (equivalent to 9 x 20m coaches) and the class 710 4-car units are just under 83m long. It is possible that the signal positions may need to be adjusted, but as the class 710s are not gangwayed, there may not be so much of an issue for signal sighting compared with the class 317 units which ran some of the services in the past.

My take on the incident is this: Firstly the class 710 does have buffers - or anti-climbers - hidden behind the blue fibreglass either side of the coupler. What seems to have happened here is that the force of the collision has caused the fishplates in the last rail joint to come adrift allowing the buffer to move backwards until the buffer (or rails on which it was mounted) to hit something solid at which point it pivoted upwards with the result we've seen in the photos. The buffer structure itself seems remarkably undamaged. Even friction buffers rely on the strength and integrity of the track on which they're mounted, and the attention to detail in terms of the amount of grip they apply to the rails, something that is very difficult to test.

[slugabed]

While glad that no-one was seriously hurt,I worry that this will lead to the removal of the engine-escape crossover,which has miraculously survived at this location.

[andypurk]

Oct 13, 2021 9:07:46 GMT 100andthirty said:

Oct 13, 2021 2:46:15 GMT andypurk said:

One consideration to add is that the class 710 unit don't have the buffers to interact with the buffer stops! If you compare the stops at Enfield with those designed for more modern stock, for example at Euston, you'll see there is pocket designed for the coupler. The coupler is designed to absorb quite a lot of the energy in a low speed collision, but won't work so well if not captured.

There is probably room for the type of friction buffers, with coupler pockets as seen at Euston, to be fitted at Enfield Town. These only take a few metres of space. From the Sectional Appendix the platforms are all >180m (equivalent to 9 x 20m coaches) and the class 710 4-car units are just under 83m long. It is possible that the signal positions may need to be adjusted, but as the class 710s are not gangwayed, there may not be so much of an issue for signal sighting compared with the class 317 units which ran some of the services in the past.

My take on the incident is this: Firstly the class 710 does have buffers - or anti-climbers - hidden behind the blue fibreglass either side of the coupler. What seems to have happened here is that the force of the collision has caused the fishplates in the last rail joint to come adrift allowing the buffer to move backwards until the buffer (or rails on which it was mounted) to hit something solid at which point it pivoted upwards with the result we've seen in the photos. The buffer structure itself seems remarkably undamaged. Even friction buffers rely on the strength and integrity of the track on which they're mounted, and the attention to detail in terms of the amount of grip they apply to the rails, something that is very difficult to test.

Yes, I know about the anti-climbers, but these are behind the coupler which will be the first thing to contact that style of buffer stops and which is designed to absorb some of the energy in a collision. It is quite surprising that this style of buffer stops at Enfield Town have lasted so long, considering that neither the class 315 or 317 have buffers or anti-climbers.

[Chris M]

The RAIB have announced they will be carrying out a full investigation into this collision

At 08:21 hrs on 12 October 2021, a passenger train collided with the buffer-stop on platform 2 of Enfield Town station. The train came to a stand with its front end raised on top of the buffer-stop, which had become detached during the collision.

The train involved was the 07:45 hrs London Overground service from London Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, operated by Arriva Rail London. 75 passengers were reported as being on the train at the time of the collision. Two passengers received treatment at the scene for minor injuries.

Our investigation will seek to identify the sequence of events that led to the collision. It will also consider:

• Any factors that may have influenced the train driver’s actions
• The training, supervision and management of drivers by Arriva Rail London
• The design and configuration of the buffer-stops at Enfield Town station
• The processes used to assess and control the risk of terminal platform overruns at the station
• Any relevant underlying factors.

www.gov.uk/government/news/buffer-stop-collision-at-enfield-town

[MoreToJack]

With the announcement of an RAIB investigation, this thread is now locked until the release of the report. If any further information comes up, and you wish to add to the thread, please PM any member of the forum staff.

[rincew1nd]

RAIB have now published their report:

www.gov.uk/government/news/report-132022-buffer-stop-collision-at-enfield-town-station

[Dstock7080]

Further to the RAIB announcement yesterday:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66137723

The driver of a train which derailed after crashing through buffers at a north London station has been jailed for 16 weeks.
An investigation after the crash found he had tested positive for cocaine.