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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2012 :: RMTnews
22
RMT marked the eighth
anniversary of Tebay rail
disaster this month with a call
for Network Rail to take action
prevent a repeat of the tragic
safety failure from ever
happening again.
In the early hours of
February 15 2004 a 16-tonne
wagon with a faulty brake
system broke free and travelled
at speed three miles down Shap
Summit, taking the lives of
Colin Buckley, Darren Burgess,
Chris Waters and Gary Tindall
and leaving a further five
workers suffering a range of
physical and psychological
trauma.
Since the incident RMT has
pressed Network Rail to
developing a secondary
protection and warning system
aimed at preventing another
Tebay.
Eight years on and such a
mechanism still hasn’t been
introduced leaving rail workers
out in the safety critical
environment at continuing and
unnecessary risk.
RMT’s Lancaster branch
organised a special
commemoration at the Tebay
memorial just south of Tebay
village.
RMT senior assistant general
secretary Mick Cash said:
“Today we remember our
colleagues who so tragically lost
their lives because of the safety
failures at Tebay on that dark,
early morning eight years ago.
“But remembering those men
is not enough, RMT members
are rightly angry and disgusted
that a secondary protection
system, which has been the
subject of countless meetings,
still hasn’t been introduced eight
years on,” he said.
In the immediate aftermath
of the accident Network Rail
introduced the temporary use of
‘slippers’ on all trailers.
Yet this was discontinued
following an industry risk
assessment which showed that
the risk of slippers being left on
the track following a possession
could result in derailments to
passenger or freight trains
following the handover of a
possession. As a result RMT
demands for secondary
protection were over ruled by
TEBAY
one last chance
Lancaster branch holds memorial for four RMT
members killed eight years ago this month by a
runaway wagon with a faulty braking system
The Tebay Memorial