Hixon rail crash [SEP] point in time
Hixon rail crash
On 6 January 1968, a low-loader transporter carrying a 120-ton electrical transformer was struck by an express train on a recently installed automatic level crossing at Hixon in Staffordshire, England.
The collision resulted in eleven deaths and 45 people injured, and led to improvements in signage around automatic level crossings.
Background.
In the 1950s, British Railways found that the cost of manning some 2,400 level crossings had risen past £1 million per annum, with some locations seeing a tenfold increase. In
line, which was being electrified at the time of their introduction, nor subsequently on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) when that was electrified in the 1980s.
Early withdrawals.
Three locomotives: E3002, E3009 and E3019 were withdrawn before they could be renumbered under the TOPS system. E3002 and E3019 were damaged by fire and both were scrapped at British Rail Crewe Works. The remains of E3009 were also cut up at Crewe Works, the locomotive having been wrecked in the Hixon rail crash of January 1968.