[Beeyar Wunby]

Thanks Tony.

Wow.

Three things spring to mind...

1) Unsolicited brake application - Driver must contact signaller, then establish cause before proceeding.

2) Operation of Emergency Brake system. Driver must call signaller and confirm that a SPAD has not occurred. Failure to do so is a 'Reset & Go'.

3) If you're resetting a tripcock in the vicinity of a signal, it's probably the arm which tripped it. At the very least you'd have to check it out then call it in as a signal fault.

I do have sympathy for the driver though - I used to drive Tripcock-fitted mainline trains trains (Class 313) on the Northern City Line, and the arrangement of having Mainline safety systems AND LU safety systems together in the same cab is an utter PITA, in my opinion. A typically British style lash-up.

Just reading through the RAIB report quickly, I was struck by the fact that the Chillout Lines train was only equipped with a GSMR radio. No LU radio, so there's no way of communicating with signaller controlling the route you're working over. Bearing in mind that there's many places where you can't get out and walk to a Signal Post Phone (because of Limited Clearances and Conductor Rail Equipment), that puts you out of contact. And if I understood the report correctly, it suggests that the TOC didn't provide drivers with phone numbers for their mobiles to contact signallers with. If this IS the case, that's very naughty.

Perhaps a silver lining to this safety incident is that maybe Chiltern/LU will have to sort this apparent Comms issue out?

Time will tell, as always.

Cheers, John.