A locomotive driver who failed to notice the loss of 10 freight wagons while travelling on the North Island main trunk line has been criticised in a Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) report.
TAIC found the driver failed to establish the cause of a sudden loss of air
pressure in the train brake pipe after the train separated between the 22nd and 23rd wagons between Te Awamutu and Te Kawa in the Waikato in September 2007.
The engineer heard a sudden loss of air from the train brake pipe and the emergency brakes applied automatically.
He went to examine the last wagon and saw there was no train end monitor attached to it.
"Thinking this was the last wagon on the train and that the loss of the train end monitor was responsible for the loss of air in the brake pipe, he advised train control and continued, leaving behind the rear 10 wagons," the report said.
The wagons were found some time later by a following train, which was travelling cautiously on instruction from train control.
No one was injured and the train was not damaged.
TAIC found the "locomotive engineer did not properly ascertain that the train was complete before resuming the journey" after the wagons came adrift.
There was a lack of crew resource management, suggesting staff were not sufficiently trained or lacked understanding, the report said.
TAIC recommended the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) chief executive that a review be undertaken into how effective the safety training was in the rail industry.
It said that ensuring the completeness of a train following a train parting or a similar event was a "safety-critical procedure for protecting against wagons being inadvertently left behind and creating the potential for a high speed collision".
- NZPA
