The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has released its report today into two separate derailments of passenger trains on the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway on 29 May and 5 July 2006.

The full report is available here:

A summary of the key points from the report are.

On Monday 29 May a locomotive-hauled passenger train was travelling from Dalegarth to Ravenglass when the leading bogie of the sixth coach derailed at Spout House Curve. On Wednesday 5 July, the leading bogie of the fifth coach of a different locomotive-hauled passenger train derailed at Millwood Bank. There were no injuries or significant damage to the track in either incident.

The immediate cause of the Spout House Curve derailment was flange climb of the leading right wheel, due to the combination of a vehicle fault and the track condition. There were two causal, several contributory and one underlying factor to the derailment.

The immediate cause of the Millwood Bank derailment was flange climb of the leading right wheel, due to a combination of vehicle, track and operational factors, which resulted in an excessive amount of vehicle sway and wheel unloading. There were three causal, three contributory and one underlying factor to the derailment.