You are in RA » Document Archive » Accident at Garrowhill on 17th December 1960 » Failures of Multiple-unit Electric Trains on British Railways: Final Report

Failures of Multiple-unit Electric Trains on British Railways: Final Report

Document Summary

The report into a series of transformer failures on new electric stock introduced on Glasgow suburban services in 1960.

This document was published on 17th March 1962 by Ministry of Transport.

It was written by Brigadier C. A. Langley.

This item is linked to the Accident at Garrowhill on 17th December 1960

The original document format was Stapled Book, and comprised 80 pages.

This document was kindly sourced from Stuart Johnson and is in our Accident reports collection..

Copyright Information

This document is Crown Copyright, and is subject to the terms governing the reproduction of crown copyright material. Depending on the status and age of the original document, you may need an OPSI click-use license if you wish to reproduce this material, and other restrictions may apply. Please see this explanation for further details.

"The accidents in the Scottish Region were two of a series of five transformer failures, the first of which occurred on 30th October, 1960, when a full day's trial was held prior to opening the public services on 5th November. The fifth occurred on 17th December, as a result of which the Scottish Regional General Manager, after consulting the British Transport Commission, decided to withdraw all electric train services forthwith in view of the possible danger which might arise from other similar failures.

I felt that I could not investigate the cause of these two accidents without taking into consideration the other transformer failures, and also the troubles that had been experienced with other electrical equipment on the Glasgow suburban trains which may have had a bearing on the transformer failures. As the investigation proceeded it became essential to check the design of the transformers in use in trains on other sections of British Railways electrified on the high voltage A.C. system to ensure that they were immune from certain weaknesses discovered in the Glasgow transformers. It further became necessary to take note of the failures on the other recently opened high voltage A.C. electrified sections of British Railways to ascertain whether they and the transformer failures in the Scottish Region were in any way inter-related and, in particular, whether the introduction for the first time on any railway of a dual high voltage A.C. system had any bearing on the problem."