Executive summary
On Sunday, 26 November 2000 at about 0105, Train 540, the northbound Longburn to Whareroa milk train, derailed near Kai Iwi while rounding a curve about 25 km/h faster than the authorised and posted curve speed of 50 km/h. Ten full milk-tanker wagons left the track and came to rest in a gully below, disgorging a large volume of milk. There were no injuries.
The reason for the excessive speed in the curve was the locomotive engineer losing situational awareness during a microsleep.
Safety issues identified included the control of locomotive engineer hours of duty, fatigue management, and the ability of the vigilance system to overcome a short-term attention deficit in sufficient time to prevent this type of occurrence.
Related Recommendations
research information available on factors contributing to biological sleepiness in LEs, with particular regard to the possible adverse effect of continuous night shifts, and take steps to: • minimise the probability of biological sleepiness leading to microsleeps provide an effective defence against any microsleep which may occur leading to an unacceptable risk exposure.