Train crash: Driver's struggle with software 'led to collision'

The trains crashed at low speed at the Neville Hill depot in Leeds on 13 November 2019

A crash involving two passenger trains happened due to a driver struggling to use onboard software, an investigation found.

A Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) inquiry was opened after the empty LNER trains collided at a depot in Leeds in November 2019.

The RAIB said the collision occurred because a driver was focused on restarting an onboard system.

An Azuma train was travelling at 15mph at the time.

No-one was injured in the crash at Neville Hill, but both trains were damaged and the Azuma, which was launched on the East Coast Main Line in May 2019, partly derailed.

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The driver of the Azuma train had 39 years' experience, but it was only the third time he had operated the model unaccompanied, the RAIB said.

He "unintentionally" accelerated to 15mph, causing him to crash into the back of an InterCity 125 travelling within the 5mph limit on that section of track.

The RAIB found the Azuma driver had been unable to set up the train management system because "ambiguous documentation" from manufacturer Hitachi led to LNER "misunderstanding the required process" when it developed its driving training programme.

It also said that the train firm failed to recognise the driver, who had only driven trains for two months in the two years before the accident, needed more training than his peers.