Track warrant control irregularities, Woodville and Otane, 18 January 2005
Status
Closed
Occurrence Date
Report Publication Date
Jurisdiction
NZ
Legacy Inquiry Number
05-102
On Tuesday 18 January 2005, a track warrant control irregularity occurred at Woodville when a track warrant was issued to a locomotive engineer authorising his train to berth on the main line at Makotuku to cross an opposing train. The locomotive engineer of the opposing train was already in possession of a track warrant authorising his train to berth on the main line at Makotuku.
On the same day a second track warrant irregularity occurred when a track warrant was issued to a locomotive engineer authorising his train to proceed from Otane to Takapau to cross an opposing train. The locomotive engineer of the opposing train was already in possession of a track warrant authorising his train to travel to Waipukurau for the same crossing. He brought this to the attention of the train controller and a potential head-on collision between the trains was averted.
There were no injuries.
Safety issues identified included:
· fatigue arising from rostering procedures for train controllers
· the use of rostered off duty train controllers to meet short-term staff shortages in the train control office
· the inability of the locomotive engineer to check the detail of issued track warrants against the preparation details.
Because of the similarities arising from each incident they have been combined into one report.
Five safety recommendations have been made to the Chief Executive of ONTRACK.
On the same day a second track warrant irregularity occurred when a track warrant was issued to a locomotive engineer authorising his train to proceed from Otane to Takapau to cross an opposing train. The locomotive engineer of the opposing train was already in possession of a track warrant authorising his train to travel to Waipukurau for the same crossing. He brought this to the attention of the train controller and a potential head-on collision between the trains was averted.
There were no injuries.
Safety issues identified included:
· fatigue arising from rostering procedures for train controllers
· the use of rostered off duty train controllers to meet short-term staff shortages in the train control office
· the inability of the locomotive engineer to check the detail of issued track warrants against the preparation details.
Because of the similarities arising from each incident they have been combined into one report.
Five safety recommendations have been made to the Chief Executive of ONTRACK.
Location
Otane (-39.897501,176.626741) [may be approximate]