REMEMBERING MOORGATE

27 RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: march 2020 :: RMTnews DISASTER: Squashed against the roof of the Tube tunnel at Moorgate is the first coach of the train that smashed into the tunnel wall. Amid the wreckage are the front bogie wheels from the second coach. The foul air forces the fireman to wear a breathing mask. The Moorgate tube crash occurred on February 28 1975 at 8:46 am on the London Underground's Northern City Line killing 43 people died and injuring many more after a train failed to stop and crashed into the line's southern terminus, Moorgate station. Standing on Platform 9 at the terminus, Railman Andrews had watched the train approaching and knew that it couldn’t stop in time. He immediately decided to ring for Control from the adjacent platform, but he was already too late. Nearby, Guard Friar stood among the 20 to 30 people waiting on the platform. As he heard the train approaching too fast, he looked round to see the driver Leslie Newson sitting in a normal position in the cab, looking straight ahead of him. The train knocked down the red marker light, and sand blew into the air as the train hit the sand pit and ran into the overrun tunnel. The crash forced the first carriage into the roof of the tunnel at the front and back, but the middle remained on the track bed and the 52-foot coach was crushed to 20 feet. The second carriage was concertinaed at the front as it collided with the first, and the third rode over the rear of the second. The brakes were not applied and the dead man's handle was still depressed when the train crashed. The London Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and Police took 13 hours to remove the injured from the wreckage, many of whom had to be cut free. With poor ventilation temperatures in the tunnel rose to over 120 °F. It took a further four days to extract the body of the Newson, whose cab had been crushed to 15 centimetres. The post-mortem showed no medical reason to explain the crash and a cause has never been established. The inquest also deemed that the incident was accidental. In the aftermath of the crash, London Underground introduced a safety system that automatically stops a train when travelling too fast using ‘sleeping policemen’ system which became known informally as Moorgate protection. REMEMBERING MOORGATE RMT News marks the 45th anniversary of the worst peacetime accident on the London Underground