R2015-02 In­ci­dent in train traf­fic in Oulunkylä, Fin­land, on 12 March 2015

22.10.2015

On Thursday, 12 March 2015 at 1.19 pm, an incident occurred at Pukinmäki Station after two Sm4 commuter trains ended up within the same block section. The incident occurred after the H train stopped as a result of a malfunction in safety device on the neutral section following signal E581. The engine driver let the train “roll” backwards in order to exit the neutral section, causing it to enter the block section of the Z train following it on the same track.

The H train ran late 24 minutes and the Z train 15 minutes. Other rail traffic was not disturged. The incident did not cause any damage.

The immediate cause of the incident was the H train reversing gravity-assisted into the block section of the Z train. The occurrence of the incident was affected by a malfunction of the safety device pedal that had been reported several times but that could not have been repaired. Furthermore, the unspecific and infrequent communications during the incident contributed to the occurrence.

The engine driver was unable to resolve the technical problems that led to the incident due to his lack of experience and insufficient training. Technical support was also not easily available.

In order to avoid accidents and similar incidents, the Safety Investigation Authority, Finland issuses the following recommendations:

1. The maintainer of the rolling stock must ensure and instruct the repairs of safety device malfunctions in the rolling stock better than at present.
2. The technical support for the Sm commuter trains is moved to the VR Operations Centre.
3. The engine driver training must pay more attention to resolving problems than before.

Other related content