REPORT BY BOARD OF INQUIRY

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 252, 21 July 1938, Page 8

REPORT BY BOARD OF INQUIRY

Engine Entered Curve At Approximately

50 Miles An Hour

A finding that the Ratana railway accident on March 26 was primarily due to an error of judgment on the part of the driver, E. C. Percival, as to the speed at -which the train was travelling, has been delivered by the Board of Inquiry appointed to investigate the disaster. The board considered that the cause of the derailment was the overturning of the locomotive, due to it entering a 6.4-chain curve at approximately 50 miles an hour. The board consisted of Sir Francis Frazer, chairman, Mr. F. W. Furkert, and Mr. H. L. Cole, and its report to the Minister of Railways, Hon. 13. G. Sullivan, was tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday. “Driver Percival,” the report stated, “is a steady, competent, experienced driver with a first-class record. We do not consider that he was guilty of culpable negligence, but we are of the opinion that, though he admittedly travelled over the Ratana flat at a speed that’he himself estimated to be five miles an hour in excess of the maximum authorised speed of 35 miles an hour, his miscalculation of his speed and location when he was within 200 feet of the point of derailment was due to an honest error of judgment, to which the presence of haze and fog contributed. “We are satisfied that the engine, cars and guard’s van were in first-class order, and that the permanent way was well-laid and maintained and perfectly safe to travel over at authorised speeds. The board recommended that it was desirable to equip with speed-recorders, of a type proved after adequate trials, all engines used for hauling express, mail or passenger trains. Costs to be paid by the Crown to the New Zealand Enginedrivers, Firemen, and Cleaners’ Association were fixed at 150 guineas.