CASE STUDY

FATIGUE FAILURE
HATFIELD RAIL CRASH
SUBMITTED BY:VRISHIN R. PURI
13BME-0069
B.tech (Mechanical,3rd year)

The Hatfield rail crash was

a railway accident on 17
October 2000, at Hatfield,
Hertfordshire, UK. The
accident did not result in a
large number of deaths, but it
nevertheless exposed the
major stewardship
shortcomings of the privatised
national railway infrastructure
company Railtrack, and the
failings of the regulatory
oversight which the company
displayed in its initial years,
principally a failure to ensure
that the company had a
sound knowledge of the
condition of its assets.
Railtrack was subsequently
partially renationalised as a
result.

STATISTICS

Date

17 October 2000

Time

12:23 (UTC)

Location

Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Country

England

Rail line

East Coast Main Line

Trains

Passengers

170

Deaths

Operator

Great North Eastern

Railway

Injuries

Over 70

Cause

Broken Rail (Fatigue)

ACCIDENT EVENTS
A GNER InterCity 225 train bound for Leeds had left Londons King Cross at 12:10, and was travelling at approximately 115 miles per hour
(185 km/h) when it derailed south of Hatfield station at 12:23. The primary cause of the accident was later determined to be the left-hand
rail fracturing as the train passed over it. Four passengers died in the accident and a further seventy were injured. The leading Class
91 locomotive (91023) and the first two coaches remained upright and on the rails. All of the following coaches, and the trailing Driving Van
Trailer were derailed, and the train set separated into three sections. The restaurant coach, the eighth vehicle in the set, overturned onto its
side and struck an overhead line gantry after derailing, resulting in severe damage to the vehicle.
Crash investigators identified the integrity and strength of the British Rail -designed Mark 4 coaches for protecting occupants.
Coincidentally, the locomotive in the crash was also involved in the Great Heck rail crash (where the leading Driving Van Trailer hit a road
vehicle on the track) a few months later. The speed restrictions and track replacement works caused significant disruption on a majority of
the national network for more than a year.
This disruption and Railtrack's spiralling costs set in motion the events which resulted in the collapse of the company into administration at
the insistence of Transport Secretary Stephen Byers MP, and its replacement by the not-for-dividend company Network Rail under Byers's
successor Alistair Darling MP.
Train operating companies were adversely affected by the disruption with an estimate of a 19% revenue reduction for passenger train
operating companies in the first year after the crash. Freight operator EWS was cancelling up to 400 trains per week as a result, whilst
estimates put Freightliner's resultant losses at 1 million per month. The cost to the entire UK economy of the disruption was estimated at
6 million per day. The Institute of Rail Welding (IoRW) was set up in 2002 by The Welding Institute (TWI) and Network Rail as a
consequence of the recommendations in the investigation report. It provides a focus for individuals and organisations involved in rail
welding and facilitates the adoption of best practice.

CAUSE OF ACCIDENT

A preliminary investigation found a rail had fragmented as trains passed and that the
likely cause was "rolling contact fatigue" (defined as multiple surface-breaking cracks).
Such cracks are caused by high loads where the wheels contact the rail. Repeated loading
causes fatigue cracks to grow. When they reach a critical size, the rail fails. Over 300
critical cracks were found in rails at Hatfield. The problem was known about before the
accident, and replacement rails made available but never delivered to the correct
location for installation. The implication that other rails might be affected led to speed
restrictions on huge lengths of railway, causing significant delays on many routes, while
checks were carried out on the rail condition. The incidence of cracks similar to those
found at Hatfield was alarmingly high throughout the country.
The rail infrastructure company Railtrack, having divested much of the engineering
knowledge of British Rail into maintenance contractors, had inadequate maintenance
records and no accessible asset register. It did not know how many other cases of "gauge
corner cracking" (an example of rolling contact fatigue) around the network could lead to
a Hatfield-like accident. Railtrack imposed over 1,200 emergency speed restrictions and
instigated a nationwide (and costly) track replacement programme. The company was
subject to "enforcement" by the Rail Regulator Tom Winsor.

SCALING THE IMPACT

The speed restrictions and track replacement works caused significant disruption on a
majority of the national network for more than a year.
This disruption and Railtrack's spiralling costs set in motion the events which resulted in the
collapse of the company into administration at the insistence of Transport Secretary
Stephen Byres MP, and its replacement by the not-for-dividend company Network
Rail under Byers's successor Alistair Darling MP
Train operating companies were adversely affected by the disruption with an estimate
of a 19% revenue reduction for passenger train operating companies in the first year
after the crash. Freight operator EWS was cancelling up to 400 trains per week as a result,
whilst estimates put Freightliner's resultant losses at 1 million per month. The cost to the
entire UK economy of the disruption was estimated at 6 million per day.
The Institute of Rail Welding (IoRW) was set up in 2002 by The Welding Institute (TWI)
and Network Rail as a consequence of the recommendations in the investigation report.
It provides a focus for individuals and organisations involved in rail welding and facilitates
the adoption of best practice.

IMAGE GALLERY

NEWSICLE
Introduction
On Tuesday 17 October 2000 the 1210
GNER Intercity 225 train from London
to Leeds was derailed outside the
Hertfordshire town of Hatfield, killing
four people. It is the third serious rail
disaster in three years after the
Southall and Paddington crashes.
The train, which was carrying about
200 passengers, came to a
catastrophic halt at 12.25pm. Four of
the nine carriages were derailed and
three more were flung over on their
side a few hundred metres south of
Hatfield station.

COURTESY :- BBC