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It's clear and straightforward. Section 11.2 of the Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005 requires RAIB (Read About It Belatedly) to "publish a final report [into any event it investigates] in the shortest time possible and normally not later than twelve months after the date of the occurrence".

(Click here to read the full regulations.)

The word 'normally' is not a catch-all get-out clause. The generous deadline is 12 months unless - according to the safety unit of the European Railway Agency - there are "justified reasons" why it cannot be met.

The RAIB is rated poorly...on the length of time it takes to produce final reports...
Source: Ipsos Mori survey of senior and middle managers

The graph and list below analyses 'heavy rail' accidents or incidents into which RAIB has conducted inquiries. As you can see, compliance with regulation 11.2 is far from 'normal', compromising the ability of the wider industry to learn lessons quickly and effectively from these serious events.

'Reasonable'
(as considered by senior
rail managers)

Compliant

Compliant....just

Non-compliant

Hugely
non-compliant
Pathetic!

The data used to produce the above graph only considers RAIB's 'heavy rail' inquiries - those relating to events on Network Rail infrastructure.

The average duration for all 50 of the above inquiries is 382 days. Of these, 22 took longer than the regulatory deadline.

The target duration for an inquiry is not 12 months - this is the upper time limit. The target is "the shortest time possible". Senior rail managers, surveyed by Ipsos Mori, considered six months to be a 'reasonable' inquiry timescale.

RAIB's performance should improve significantly during 2010 as it only launched 13 heavy rail inquiries during the whole of 2009 - that's one for every two members of its investigative team. Five other inquiries were also started.

The list of heavy rail inquiries below is in order of publication date, with the most recent first. Click the event's title to visit the relevant page on RAIB's website.
Event
Happened
Publication
Days
Collision at Exeter St David Station 04/01/10 21/06/10
168
Fatal accident at Fairfield level crossing, Little Bedwyn, Wiltshire 06/05/09 12/05/10

371

Passenger train derailment near Cummersdale, Cumbria 01/06/09 25/03/10

298

Incident at Greenhill Upper Jnc, near Falkirk 22/03/09 18/03/10

361

Derailment of freight train
near Stewarton, Ayrshire
27/01/09 03/02/10

372

Derailment of freight train
at Marks Tey, Essex
12/06/08 14/01/10

581

Collision and derailment
at North Rode
18/12/08 14/12/09

361

Accident involving a trackworker at Dalston Junction 30/03/09 19/11/09

234

Double fatality at Bayles & Wylies foot crossing, Bestwood 22/11/08 19/11/09

362

Container doors hitting passenger trains in Cumbria 04/07/09 19/11/09
138
Serious injury sustained by a S&T technician at Kennington Junction 23/05/08 12/11/09

537

Derailment of two locomotives at East Somerset Junction 10/11/08 10/11/09

366

Runaway RRVs and their trailers on Network Rail 18/07/08 29/10/09

468

Fatal accident at Wraysholme crossing, Flookburgh 03/11/08 07/10/09

338

Engineering train collision at
Leigh-on-Sea
26/04/08 14/09/09

506

Trackworker struck by train at Stevenage 07/12/08 27/08/09

263

Collision with debris from bridge near Liverpool Street 28/05/08 20/08/09

449

Incident involving container train at Basingstoke Station 19/12/08 12/08/09

236

Near miss at Llanbadarn crossing 21/10/08 28/07/09

280

Trackworker struck by train on Grosvenor Bridge, Victoria 13/11/07 16/07/09
611
Minor collision near New Southgate 27/07/08 24/06/09

332

Collision between train and grinding machines at Acton West 24/06/08 18/06/09

359

Poplar Farm (Attleborough) crossing near miss 01/07/08 11/06/09

346

Detachment of containers from freight wagons 01/03/08 27/05/09

453

Road-rail vehicle runaways at Brentwood & Snow Hill 04/11/07 27/05/09

570

Derailment at Santon, Scunthorpe 28/01/08 30/04/09

461

Fatal accident at
Tackley Station level crossing
31/03/08 30/03/09

364

Derailment at Moor Street, Birmingham 25/03/08 18/03/09

359

Runaway roadrailer at Glen Garry 05/12/07 25/02/09

448

Derailment near
Glasgow Exhibition Centre
03/09/07 12/02/09

528

Derailment at Ely 27/06/07 22/01/09

575

Fatal accident at
West Lodge crossing
22/01/08 20/01/09

364

Fatal accident on
Moor Lane foot crossing
16/04/08 23/12/08

251

Near miss at Bishop's Stortford 30/01/08 23/12/08

328

SPAD at Didcot North Junction 22/08/07 20/11/08

456

Overspeeding in ESR at
Ty Mawr crossing
29/08/07 30/10/08

428

Trackworker fatality
east of Reading
29/11/07 28/10/08

334

Derailment at Grayrigg 23/02/07 23/10/08

608

Trackworker injury at Leatherhead 29/08/07 23/10/08

421

Collision with footbridge at
Barrow-upon-Soar
01/02/08 25/09/08

238

Derailment at Duddlestone Junction 10/08/07 31/07/08

356

Two trains in same section at Aylesbury 27/08/07 11/06/08

291

Runaway wagons in
Camden Road Tunnel
19/07/07 22/05/08

315

Derailment at Croxton level crossing 12/09/06 13/05/08

590

Runaway and collision at Armathwaite 28/01/07 24/04/08

452

Derailment at Kemble 15/01/07 27/03/08

437

Derailment in Hooley Cutting,
near Merstham
13/01/07 28/02/08

411

Track worker fatality
at Ruscombe Junction
29/04/07 28/02/08

306

Derailment of a freight train
at King Edward Bridge, Newcastle
10/05/07 31/01/08

265

Collision near Burton-on-Trent 01/08/07 10/01/08
163
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