{"id":133419,"date":"2024-09-25T22:42:38","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T12:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=56501"},"modified":"2024-09-25T22:42:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T12:42:38","slug":"manchester-crash-recovery-pictures-and-investigation-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=133419","title":{"rendered":"Manchester crash recovery pictures and investigation underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s official crash scene investigators, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), has formally declared its interests in the recent freight derailment in Manchester. The RAIB is duty-bound to review all incidents on the UK network. Their team was on the scene at Audenshaw in Manchester, shortly after the significant derailment on 6 September. RailFreight.com has been given exclusive insight by the DB Cargo recovery team who are attending the wreck.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Work continues to recover the stranded aggregates train at Sidmouth Street bridge. The service came to grief on a short freight-only chord. The line, currently blocked, runs between Audenshaw Reservoirs and Ashton cricket ground. There is extensive damage to the infrastructure. The bridge over the otherwise quiet suburban street, has complicated the recovery job. It is proving a conundrum for accident investigators.<\/p>\n

Morning Crash Hour<\/h2>\n

Sidmouth Street is a leafy avenue in the tucked-away Manchester suburb of Audenshaw. However, the peace of the popular public park was shattered earlier this month. \u201cAt around 11:25 on 6 September 2024, a freight train travelling between Peak Forest and Salford derailed as it passed over a bridge in Audenshaw, Manchester,\u201d says the official statement, released by the RAIB. Local media at the time reported alarm from residents, whose properties back onto the bridge and embankments.<\/p>\n

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Derailed wagons on Sidmouth Street bridge, Audenshaw in Manchester, Image: \u00a9 Rail Accident Investigation Branch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The heavy train, operated by GB Railfreight, was hauling aggregates from the relatively nearby rail-served quarries in the neighbouring county of Derbyshire. The train was double-headed by two GBRf class 66 diesel locomotives and consisted of 24 purpose-built HYA hopper wagons. The accident happened at the same time as another bridge on the north side of the city<\/a> was being renewed, which had already required extensive rerouting.<\/p>\n

DB Cargo providing recovery<\/h2>\n

The recovery operation is being undertaken by DB Cargo UK\u2019s Breakdown and Recovery Team, which provides such services to the network. \u201cThe recovery is a highly complex operation due to the location of the incident,\u201d explained DB’s Richard Sears. \u201cBefore rerailing can begin, we have had to remove all the product from the stranded wagons using grabbers and a heavy-duty vacuum excavator that sucks the material out. This is an extensive job in itself. Once the wagons have been rerailed and recovered, then Network Rail will carry out an assessment of any damage to the infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Another damaged hopper wagon at Audenshaw. Image \u00a9 DB Cargo recovery team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The chord provides a route for traffic from the quarries of the High Peak region to reach the aggregates terminal in the Greater Manchester area. In this instance, the striker train was heading for the Cemex facility in Salford<\/a>. The line is also used by freight traffic transferring between the West Coast Main Line and the Transpennine Route. \u201cOur investigation will seek to identify the sequence of events that led to the accident,\u201d said the RAIB\u2019s formal statement.<\/p>\n

Substantial damage to railway infrastructure<\/h2>\n

According to the RAIB, about half of the train passed the point of derailment. \u201cThe two locomotives and the leading ten wagons passed safely over the bridge, but the next nine wagons derailed, with the last of the derailed wagons coming to a stand on the bridge itself,\u201d says the RAIB statement.<\/p>\n

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The recovery operations required the load to be removed before the rolling stock was lifted. Image: \u00a9 DB Cargo recovery team<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Given the location, and the proximity of Audenshaw Primary School, the civil services went into meltdown to respond. It\u2019s unlikely Sidmouth Street will ever see so many blue light responders ever again. \u201cNo injuries were caused by the accident,\u201d says the somewhat more restrained RAIB response<\/a>. \u201cHowever, the derailment caused substantial damage to railway infrastructure and damaged some of the wagons involved.\u201d Pictures from local media also show significant damage to the underside of the bridge, which is a typical small structure, crossing what is now a pedestrianised walkway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s official crash scene investigators, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), has formally declared its interests in the recent freight derailment in Manchester. The RAIB\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":56504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5878,5881,196,7477,106,6149,6150,78,47,13228,85],"tags":[13183,12634],"class_list":["post-133419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-db-cargo-uk","category-denton","category-derailment","category-gbrf","category-manchester","category-raib","category-rail-accident-investigation-branch","category-rail-freight","category-rail-news","category-sidmouth-street","category-uk","tag-audenshaw","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134038,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133419\/revisions\/134038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}