Ladbroke Grove – a history of rehearsals ignored before the fatal crash

Today, 5 October 2024, marks a quarter of a century since the tragic events at Ladbroke Grove when the 08.06 Paddington to Bedwyn collided with the 06.03 Cheltenham, to Paddington – killing 29 passengers and both drivers – after the Bedwyn train passed signal SN109 at red. Of the deaths, 24 occurred in the Bedwyn train, formed of Thames Turbo 165115, only six passengers making it out of the first vehicle alive. At an impact of a closing speed of 130mph, the class 165’s first vehicle disintegrated.

Many horror stories were made public, such as the rescue worker who came across a woman’s beautifully manicured severed hand, but there were many attempts to play down or even hush up the more embarrassing aspects. Shortly before 5 October a near identical incident happened in the same area, although on that occasion no collision occurred. Railtrack refused to discuss it. In the preceding six years to he Ladbroke Grove crash, there had been eight cases of drivers passing signal SN109 at red and 67 instances of signals being passed at red in the near vicinity. As I put ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Train to London’ book together, I became aware (via supportive front line rail staff) that it was making some managers nervous because it went against the narrative being spun to the public about rail safety. I will forever be grateful to front line operational staff (who I won’t name for obvious reasons) who contacted me with their concerns over the signals in and around Paddington. Below are a cross section of incidents from the book covering the following years since the crash. Top management are often quick to dismiss multiple signals passed at danger (SPADs) as a driver ‘problem’ but the reality is that there are a number of ‘problem’ signals on the network – and when a signal is a multiple SPAD signal, there’s obviously a problem with the signal. For example, SY12 that protects the junction with the branch to Redditch has had many incidents of drivers being brought to a stand by train protection warning system TPWS as they sped towards it at speeds of up to 70 mph, while it displayed a red because a train was passing across the junction.

In recent years, signals passed at danger have continued in and around Ladbroke Grove, despite Automatic train protection (ATP) being seen as a panacea by some in the rail industry. On 16 October 2019, the driver of Crossrail 04.16 Old Oak Common depot to Paddington discovered that as he approached signal SN26 (the final signal before entering Paddington station) that the ATP was advising him of a maximum permitted speed of 100mph – instead of the permitted 40mph. The cause was discovered to be a damaged side train side plug associated with the speedometer. ATP did, however, do its job on 29 October that year when it brought the Great Western 21.28 Taunton to Paddington to a halt at signal SN74 – the penultimate signal before Paddington – after the train passed it a red by a cab length. The driver reported that he had lost concentration as a result of fatigue.

On 10 March 2020 low sunlight, as on 5 October 1999, played a part in a Crossrail test train passing signal SN74 at red. When the driver was challenged, he claimed that two white subsidiary lights had been displayed. The technical officer at at Thames Valley Signalling Centre confirmed that the signal had not been cleared and camera footage from the train showed that low sunlight affected the observation of SN174’s aspects.

The gantry that supports signal SN109 was at the centre of attention again on 4 October 2018, when the driver of Great Western 09.32 Paddington to North Pole depot reported that signal SN105 (which is located next but one to signal SN109) reported a wrong side failure relating to the in cab automatic train protection display (ATP). The driver reported that SN105 was displaying a single yellow aspect, but the ATP was displaying a green aspect. A download from the on train monitoring equipment confirmed that the correct indications were shown for SN105.

Have lessons been learnt? Drivers working for train operator Transport for Wales contacted me to say that a distant signal that relates to a home signal that protects a junction had been broken for 12 months – following a lightening strike in June last year.

The Frodsham Junction distant signal had been constantly displaying a yellow aspect since the storm, regardless if the home signal was displaying a red or green aspect. One driver said: “It’s very annoying, and I dare say dangerous.” The driver went on to say that “the stage is now set” for drivers to become familiar with the signal always being yellow, but the following signal being green, so failing to reduce speed even if the signal displays a red aspect because a train ahead is crossing the junction. Another driver complained that during last summer the home signal was significantly obscured by bushes and trees. Some drivers suggested that the only way to provoke Network Rail into action would be to pass the distant signal at 30mph, causing delays and triggering financial penalties to Network Rail, saying “financial penalties from delays tend to enact change with Network Rail.”

In December 2023, a survey of RMT members revealed that 9 out of 10 members thought that the cuts in maintenance could lead to a serious accident within the next two years. One response in the survey was “Not enough staff left to complete both faults and maintenance. Maintenance is being prioritised but still goes into backlog. Faults are left for days or weeks sometimes.

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