Shocking reconstruction of Croydon tram crash shown at inquest
By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter
The inquest into the death of seven locals in the Croydon tram crash today was shown a shocking reconstruction of the incident by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB).
Chief inspector for RAIB, Simon French, outlined the events of November 9, 2016 where a tram derailed just after 6am on the Sandilands bend after coming out of a tunnel.
The incident was “fast and violent” with passengers describing it like “being inside a washing machine”, said Mr French.
It happened in just a few seconds and Dane Chinnery, 19, Philip Logan, 52, Philip Seary, 57, Dorota Rynkiewicz, 35, and Robert Huxley, 63, all from New Addington, and Mark Smith, 35, and Donald Collett, 62, from Croydon, all lost their lives.
Only one passenger escaped injury in the incident.
The jury was first shown an animation of a tram approaching the curve out of the Sandilands tunnel at normal speed, this would be coming out of the tunnel at 50 km/hr and braking down to 20 km/hr at the bend – the speed limit for this stretch.
Mr French then showed a reconstruction video of what happened that morning, first in slow motion and then at full speed.
It shows the tram emerging from the tunnel at 78 km/hr before slowing down to 73 km/hr as it reaches the bend, this is where it starts to tip over and slides on its side.
Mr French said: “From this moment onwards we start to see all sorts of marks on the infrastructure, damage to sleepers, damage to concrete drainage covers.
“There is all sorts of clues in the infrastructure, that is why we are very confident about this sequence.
“Witnesses spoke of it like being inside a washing machine, being thrown, it was a very sudden event.
“Speaking for myself I do find that quite shocking. It is fast and quite violent, it takes place in a matter of seconds.”
On the day of the crash a team from RAIB arrived at the site around 10am and worked there for three days and three nights.
The body issued its final report in December 2017.
The inquest hearing continues.
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