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Southall Rail CrashThe Southall rail crash occurred on September 19, 1997, on the Great Western Railway line at Southall, west London. Six people were killed and over 150 were injured. The crash occurred after the 1032 Great Western Intercity passenger train from Swansea to London Paddington, operating with a defective Automatic Warning System indicator went through a red signal (SPAD) and collided with a freight train leaving its depot, shortly before 1320 local time. If the AWS equipment on the HST had been working, the chance of the accident occurring would have been reduced, though not eliminated, since the AWS is only an advisory system. Automatic train protection equipment would have almost certainly prevented the accident. The train was fitted with ATP but this was also switched off. At the time of the accident the ATP equipment was not required to be switched on and had proved troublesome in service. Following this accident and the Ladbrooke Grove accident, the train operating company Great Western now requires all its HST trains to have ATP switched on, if the equipment is faulty the train is taken out of service. In hindsight, the action of the signalman in giving the freight train precedence over the HST with the faulty AWS was less than wise. However, may not have been aware that the HST AWS was faulty. In hindsight, a better source of action would have been to have defined a train headcode that indicates a faulty AWS, say "AWSF", and instruct signalmen to treat such trains with extra care, including giving such trains priority. External links
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