Overview
- The crash occurred on 22 May 2025 when a passenger train travelling at about 80 mph hit an agricultural trailer at the user‑worked Nordan Farm crossing, causing minor injuries to six passengers and one staff member and heavy damage to the trailer and the train’s leading vehicle.
- RAIB concluded the immediate cause was that the Woofferton signaller granted permission to cross despite an approaching train after forgetting about the train, a lapse linked to interrupted routine, increased workload and having no more than four and a half hours’ sleep before the shift.
- The report says the signaller had stopped routinely applying signal protection after advice from a more experienced Leominster signaller, and that the tractor driver had telephoned for permission as required by the crossing signs.
- RAIB identified systemic weaknesses in Network Rail’s processes, finding risk assessments did not account for higher danger during seasonal or intensive crossing use and there is no coherent process to classify vehicles as large, low or slow moving.
- The RAIB issued two recommendations and four staff‑focused learning points on phone use, fatigue assessment, using signal instruments, and correct signal protection; Network Rail says it will review guidance, training and the recommendations and that work is already under way.