Hixon rail crash judicial inquiry minutes of evidence

4 boxes of minutes of evidence given to the judicial inquiry into the Hixon rail crash accident 1968.

The Hixon rail crash involved a collision between an express passenger train on the West Coast Main Line and a low loader carrying a 120ton transformer that was blocking an automatic level crossing. It resulted in eleven deaths including three members of the train crew and 45 injuries. The accident was caused by the low loader becoming grounded and stuck on the level crossing, after it had started crossing without calling the signaller first, despite the presence of a police escort.

Such accidents would usually be investigated at the time by Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate (HMRI). However, the HMRI had been involved in the programme to replace level crossings with automatic half-barrier crossings and was judged to have a conflict of interest in the investigation. A judicial inquiry was therefore carried out under section 7 of the 1871 Railways Act, the first such inquiry since the Tay Bridge disaster. The inquiry made several recommendations for improving automatic half crossings including improvements to signage, introduction of an amber warning signal and lengthening the time the barriers were lowered before the train arrived.