The Ministry of Defence's (MOD) contractors "did not have sufficient expertise and resources" to manage the railway at a Warwickshire site, an investigation has found.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said lessons needed to be learned after a runaway wagon travelled 2.4km, going careering through a level crossing, last May.

At around 9pm on 25 May 2023 an empty wagon ran away from the MOD sidings located within Kineton munitions depot, before eventually coming to rest as the tracks levelled out.

During the runaway, the wagon pushed through two sets of trailing hand points which were set in an opposing direction, broke through the gates at the exit to the sidings, passed over two farm crossings, and traversed a level crossing on a public road. 

The wagon came to rest a short distance beyond the public road level crossing. 

Nobody was injured during the incident.

The wagon moved over the B4086 crossing from right to left (image via Google Maps)

But an investigation found the wagon - owned by DB Cargo and leased to Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) who was operating it on behalf of MOD - was stored on a gradient with "insufficient brake force to restrain it". 

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There was also no system to prevent it from leaving the sidings.

RAIB found three factors in its investigation.

"The first was that MOD's contractors did not have sufficient expertise and resources to properly manage the risk of rail operations at Kineton," the report said.

"The second was that MOD did not provide effective safety leadership to its contractors. 

"The final underlying factor was that the level of oversight by safety regulators meant that the lack of safety leadership within MOD rail operations was not identified and addressed."

RAIB also found the facilities used by DB cargo staff to carry out safety-critical maintenance activities were "not well suited for the task".

As a result of the investigation five recommendations have been put forward, including the MOD reviewing its current arrangements, making sure K+N double checking on safety and for DB Cargo to review its maintenance procedures.

See the full report here.

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