A collision on the new Metrolink Oldham town centre line has sparked calls for layout changes at a busy roundabout.
See the news report in the Oldham News for more details.

ON Christmas Eve 1874, Oxfordshire witnessed its worst ever railway disaster when a train derailed at Shipton-on-Cherwell, killing 34 passengers. 69 other people were seriously injured. The basic cause was found to be a broken tyre on the carriage just behind the locomotive, but that failure was worsened by the poor braking system fitted to the train.

The report can be found here on the Railways Archive.

On the 12th December 1988 a crowded passenger train crashed into the rear of another train that had stopped at a signal, and an empty train, travelling in the other direction, crashed into the debris. Thirty-five people died and nearly five hundred were injured.
The primary cause of the crash was incorrect wiring work on the signalling system; a redundant wire was left connected at one end, and bare at the other. The wire came into contact with a relay, causing a signal to display a 'wrong side' green aspect regardless of the presence of a train on the track circuit. The signalling technician responsible had also worked a seven day week for the previous thirteen weeks.
Twenty five years on from the Clapham Junction rail disaster, a survivor is still remembering fresh details from that harrowing day.

See the news item here, and the accident report on the Railways Archive website here.

WASHINGTON -- The NTSB continues to rule out mechanical causes in a deadly Bronx train crash while adding to the possibility that human error was involved. Federal safety investigators have all but eliminated mechanical problems as the cause of the December 1 derailment, but there are indications that the driver might not have been as attentive as he should have been.
See the news item here and the NTSB's page on this accident here.

WASHINGTON -- Smithsonian's National Zoo has released a safety report following last month's incident where a zebra seriously injured a zoo keeper.
See the news item here, and the discussion about similar incidents on the LinkedIn Human Factors Professionals group (you'll need to join the group if you're not a member already).

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