06.05.2021

Rail lift/crane collision

The UK’s Network Rail has issued a safety alert after a road rail crane collided with a road rail boom lift, trapping and seriously injuring the operator.

The incident occurred on Sunday morning near Billericay, Essex, when the boom lift and the crane were travelling, one behind the other, along the same track at the end of a shift.

The boom lift was travelling in front of the Doosan Long Reach RRV crane - a modified 360 degree excavator with with hydraulic jib and road rail gear - when it stopped, causing the Doosan's jib to crash into the boom lift platform in which the operator and a controller were travelling. The operator sustained life changing injuries, which might result in the loss of his leg, while the controller was uninjured. The crane operator and his controller, who were both travelling in the cab of the crane, were also unharmed.
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The platform and the Doosan crane after the incident

The incident is currently being investigated by the principal contractor, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) and Office of Rail and Road (ORR). A full report is expected once the investigation has been completed.

The safety alert and initial discussion points can be viewed and/or downloaded from Network Rail’s Safety Central site on: https://safety.networkrail.co.uk/
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We will update this report if and when we learn more.

Note
This is not Network Rail's first aerial work platform collision in this part of the network, last year a moving platform collided with a stationary one due to the operator not paying attention. Thankfully no one was injured in that incident and the RAIB issued a full report on what happened complete with recommendations.