Distracted London-bound train driver went 100mph over limit
 

A train driver who sped through a 20mph (32km/h) zone at 121mph (194km/h) was distracted as he grasped for medication for an illness.

The driver missed two speed restriction warning signs, according to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...herts-49206580

Hmmm. If the driver was feeling unwell, he/she should not have been driving the train :eek:

Crikey, no wonder that they wanna put bars on yer carriage windows up there.
Stop the cattle from falling out as the train zooms through wonky track well over the speed.
Our annual railway medical here is VERY strict.
Any medication must be approved, or you get the DCM.
Don't come monday.
Any allergy medication with certain ingredients is VERBOTEN.
Cough syrup etc.
And, any heart etc medication can result in the DCM.
Random blood alcohol and drug testing occurs here frequently.
A tad different to them good ole days when the train crew would sample some amber fluids to get ready for toil.
Steve.

What is the reason for the speed restriction? Bad tracks?

Yes usually. Emergency Speed Restrictions (ESR) can be for things like Track geometry issues, Bridge Bashes, Broken Rails, Flooding, Rough Rides, Overhead Line problems, etc.

For an ESR to be put in place it means that something has come up that can't wait for a planned maintenance job.

Normally, scheduled maintenance jobs are published in the WON (Weekly Operating Notice) which is a regional publication, and which traincrew are legally required to read - when you book on for a shift you sign the 'booking on sheet' which states that you have read them (as well as lots of other things).

Whenever engineering work is planned, the affected section of track would just have a Temporary Speed Restriction (TSR). So the whole point of an ESR is that you're not expecting it - the first thing you know that you're approaching one is that you get an AWS warning horn where there isn't normally one, and you see a Dalek (Emergency Indicator) flashing at you. Then you look out for the Warning Board which is a number with 2 little white 'eyes' under it. This board SHOULD be placed at the service braking distance before the restriction, so if you're on a 125 mph line and the restriction speed is 20 mph, you'd expect the braking distance to be not much less than a mile and a quarter.

Nowadays with the use of hired-in maintenance workers, it's not unusual to find that boards have been put up like a dog's dinner and you arrive at the restriction way sooner than you should. So you have to throw the brakes on hard, or worse still go tanking through the restriction much faster than you're supposed to. When this happens you call the signaller to advise, and put in a written report to your company.

There's a good section in Wiki showing the arrangements of boards (The little flashing Emergency Indicator is my own artwork :) ) Link here....https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_rai...d_restrictions

HTH, BW