The Railway Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has issued a preliminary report into an incident at around 10:17 on New Year’s Day, Monday, 1 January 2024, when there was a near miss between a passenger train and the driver of a freight train just east of Nottingham railway station.

At the time of the incident, the driver of the freight train involved had stopped the freight train so that he could examine it. To examine his train, the driver walked along the adjacent line to walk to the back of his train.

Whilst the driver was walking along the adjacent line, a passenger train was approaching at approximately 37 mph on the same line.

When the driver of the passenger train spotted that the freight train driver was in an unsafe position ahead of his train, he braked and sounded his train’s warning horn. Fortunately, that alerted the freight train driver who had enough time to move off the line to avoid being struck.

As part of its preliminary report, the Railway Accident Investigation Branch has looked into the circumstances surrounding the incident, and after assessing the evidence that has been gathered to date, has published a safety digest that will be made available on its website in the next few months.