Shortly after 8pm on Wednesday 19 October, five wagons each filled with 80 tonnes of powdered cement came off the tracks at Petteril Bridge Junction.The derailment involved one locomotive hauling 14 wagons, each filled with 80 tonnes of powdered cement, as it travelled between Clitheroe and Carlisle on Wednesday 19 October. Five of the wagons derailed shortly after 8pm at Petteril Bridge Junction. An initial report published by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch found that a fault with a train wheel was the most likely cause of the derailment.
One wagon ended up in the river Petteril and two others came to rest on the railway embankment.
On 10 November, Network Rail published drone footage from site ahead of an 800-tonne crane recovering the stranded wagons at the weekend. So long as strong winds don't delay the lifting, all three wagons should soon be removed and made ready to be taken away by rail accident investigators.
Installing the crane on unstable ground in an old railway siding since the incident has been a feat of engineering in itself, and needed:
300 tonnes of powdered cement extracting from the wagons
3,800 tonnes of stone to build a site compound
22 lorries to transport the crane sections
16 foundation piles 13 metres deep for the crane pad
A 100-tonne crane to build the main 800-tonne crane
Once the wagons have been removed Network Rail can take over the site to fully fix the railway infrastructure at Petteril Bridge junction.
Forty engineers will be on site each day. They will replace 80 metres of damaged track; install 400 metres of cabling for signals and points; replace two switches – moving sections of track which enables trains to switch lines; secure bridge foundations eroded in the River Petteril with 100 tonnes of stone and rebuild 41 metres of destroyed bridge parapet.
It’s hoped this work will be complete early in December so train services can resume on the Tyne Valley and Settle to Carlisle lines.