Great Heck Rail Crash

Great Heck Rail Crash
Details
Date	28 February 2001
Time	06:13 GMT
Location	Great Heck, Selby, North Yorkshire
Coordinates	53°41′14″N 1°05′53″W
Country	England
Rail line	East Coast Main Line
Cause	Vehicle on tracks
Statistics
Trains	2
Deaths	10
Injuries	82
List of UK rail accidents by year

An InterCity 225 DVT, similar to the one involved in the crash

The Great Heck rail crash, widely known as the Selby rail crash, was a high-speed train accident that occurred at Great Heck near Selby, North Yorkshire, England on the morning of 28 February 2001. 10 people were killed and 82 people suffered serious injuries. It remains the worst rail disaster in the 21st century in the United Kingdom.

Events

The crash occurred at approximately 06:13 (GMT), when a Land Rover Defender towing a loaded trailer (carrying a Renault Savanna estate car) swerved off the M62 motorway just before a bridge over the East Coast Main Line. The vehicle ran down an embankment and onto the southbound railway track. The Land Rover's driver, Gary Neil Hart, tried to reverse it off the track, but he could not. While he was using a mobile telephone to call the emergency services after exiting the vehicle, the Land Rover was hit by a southbound GNER InterCity 225 heading from Newcastle to London King's Cross at over 120 mph.

The InterCity 225 was propelled by a Class 91 locomotive (91023) and led by a Driving Van Trailer (DVT) (82221). After striking the Land Rover, the leading bogie of the DVT derailed but the train stayed upright. However, points to nearby sidings deflected it into the path of an oncoming Freightliner freight train, running 20 minutes early (which was within the rules) and travelling from Immingham to Ferrybridge hauled by a Class 66 (66521) locomotive. The two trains collided approximately half a mile (642 metres) from the impact with the Land Rover. The impact resulted in the near destruction of the lightweight DVT and severe to moderate damage to all nine of the InterCity 225's coaches, which mostly overturned and came to rest down an embankment to the east side of the track. The trailing locomotive remained upright and suffered minor damage, although it was derailed. The Class 66 freight locomotive overturned onto its left side, sustaining major damage to its cab area and right side, and the first nine wagons were derailed and damaged to varying extents.

Immediately before the impact of the two trains, the speed of the InterCity 225 was estimated as 88 mph and that of the freight train as 54 mph. With an estimated closing (combined) speed of 142 mph, the collision between the trains is the highest speed railway incident that has occurred in the UK.

Outcome

Both train drivers, two additional train crew on board the InterCity 225, and six passengers were killed. Survivors of the accident included a train-driving instructor (James Hill), who was travelling in the cab of 66521 and teaching a new route to the driver of the Class 66, a driver with 24 years of experience.

Those killed were:

• John Weddle, from Throckley - GNER driver
• Stephen Dunn, from Brayton - Freightliner driver
• Raymond Robson, from Whitley Bay - GNER train guard
• Paul Taylor, from Newcastle - GNER chef
• Alan Ensor, from York
• Clive Vidgen, from York
• Barry Needham, from York
• Steve Baldwin, from York
• Christopher Terry, from York
• Robert Shakespeare, from Beverley

The coaches of the InterCity 225 were carrying 99 passengers and train staff. Had the train been closer to its total seated capacity of 544 passengers, the number of fatalities and serious injuries would have almost certainly been much higher. The early morning departure from Newcastle (4.45am) resulted in reduced passenger numbers. As it was, 45 of the 52 seriously injured passengers, and all 8 fatalities (excluding the two train drivers) were travelling in the first five coaches, which included a restaurant car and two first class coaches with less densely packed seating than standard coaches. The official incident report praised the crashworthiness of the InterCity 225's Mark 4 coaches.

Hart escaped the collision unscathed. He claimed that his car had suffered a mechanical fault, or had collided with an object on the road. However, an investigation, including reconstruction of the Land Rover to demonstrate that it was not mechanically defective, concluded that Hart had been driving in a sleep-deprived condition, and had not applied the brakes as it went down the embankment. It later transpired that Hart had stayed up the previous night talking on the telephone to a woman he had met via an Internet dating agency. Hart later stated that although he had witnessed the impact between the InterCity 225 and his Land Rover, he had not been aware of the more serious collision with the freight train until informed by police several hours later.

Coincidentally, 91023 was also involved in the Hatfield rail crash some months earlier. The locomotive escaped with only slight damage on both occasions. Following technical upgrade of the Class 91 fleet, which led to all locomotives having 100 added to the number (91001 became 91101, etc.), 91023 was renumbered 91132, not 91123. Drivers Steve Dunn and Chris Swift, who was involved at Hatfield, had both previously worked at Birmingham New Street depot. 66521 was written off, despite only being a few months old at the time of the crash.

An unusual aspect of the emergency response was the need to carry out disinfecting procedures at the scene due to the foot and mouth epidemic in the UK at the time of the incident.

Aftermath

Hart was tried on ten counts of causing death by dangerous driving. On 13 December 2001 he was found guilty, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. He was released after serving half his sentence, for cooperation.

Campaigners have drawn attention to what they claim is the inadequate length of the crash barriers alongside the road. According to the Health and Safety Executive's final report, the Land Rover had left the road some 24 metres before the barrier started, and had easily broken through the simple wooden fence that lined the track. A 2003 Highways Agency review of crash barriers on bridges over railways concluded that only three bridges nationwide were in need of upgrading. The bridge at Great Heck was not one of them. Gary Hart attempted to sue the Department for Transport for a contribution to the damages he was liable to pay to GNER and the victims, on the grounds that the safety barrier was inadequate, but the case was dismissed.

Hart is supported by campaigner Scott Lomax who argues that the Selby rail disaster was the culmination of many circumstances, with numerous factors of which Hart was only one. Lomax alleges that the disaster occurred due to a lack of safety measures which, had they been in place, would have prevented the accident.^{[citation needed]}

66526 has since been named "Driver Steve Dunn (George)", in memory of the Freightliner driver killed in the accident. It carries a plaque commemorating the accident - "In remembrance of a dedicated engineman Driver Steve (George) Dunn tragically killed in the accident at Great Heck on 28th February 2001". In August 2009, the BBC News website reported that Dunn's son James - who was only nine at the time of the crash - was training to become a train driver and follow his father into the same trade. Reports about the tenth anniversary confirm that James Dunn is indeed now a driver like his father.

See also

• List of rail accidents in the United Kingdom
• Polmont rail crash - a similar accident where a train propelled from the rear by a locomotive struck an object on the railway.
• Hatfield rail crash - an earlier accident also involving an InterCity 225 powered by 91023.
• Oxshott rail crash - a concrete mixer lorry fell from a bridge onto a train.

External links

• BBC News reports on the crash and its aftermath
• Office of Rail Regulation - downloadable reports
• Highways Agency - crash report
• ONE life: Asleep at the Wheel at True North Productions