Charing Cross (District line) tube crash

The Charing Cross (District line) tube crash occurred on 17 May 1938 at about 09:55 hours, between Charing Cross (now Embankment) and Temple stations. Six people were killed when a Circle line service ran through a false clear signal into the rear of a District line service held at an automatic signal. A wiring error had caused the preceding signal to clear to green too quickly.

Preliminary events

The track circuits connected to the signal cabin at Charing Cross had been converted to alternating current on the morning of 8 May. As a result, there was some wiring which needed to be secured. This work was carried out during the engineering hours on 17 May.

Signal fault

The signal wiring engineer had secured and reconnected all wires between the various circuit breakers in the cabin. However, one wire, which linked circuit breaker number 8 to circuit breaker number 9 had been put on the wrong terminal of circuit breaker number 9, thereby causing signal EH9, the eastbound starter signal, to clear too soon, with a train held at automatic signal number 823.

The cabin was put into automatic mode as this was how it was normally set, but no testing was carried out, and traffic began with no observation from the engineers. Manual working was only used when a train was to be reversed at Charing Cross.

Problem reported

The problem was first noticed as the line became busy, and was reported by a motorman on arrival at Temple, at 09:40. The motorman reported that he had nearly run into the train ahead.

The message was conveyed to Charing Cross but no prompt action was taken despite further reports that the signal was clearing too soon. By the time it became clear that there was a significant problem, it was too late to prevent the collision.

Allocation of blame

The report to the Ministry of Transport held the Signal Installer and Chief Lineman responsible for the wiring error and the failure to test the signals thoroughly, and the Station Foreman, Porter and Inspector responsible for not acting promptly to prevent a collision.

Similar accident

A similar accident involving a signal wiring error had occurred near the same station on the Northern line on 10 March.

References

• "Report to Ministry of Transport into the accident at Charing Cross on 17 May 1938", from the Railways Archive. Accessed 14 April 2008.