How does the railway find a crack hidden inside a solid steel rail—and what happens when it does?

In this Rail Safety Review, we explore how rails become damaged, the development of metal fatigue and rolling-contact fatigue, and the overlapping safeguards used to prevent defects becoming broken rails.

From visual inspections and reports of rough riding to ultrasonic testing, Network Rail’s measurement trains and the Flying Banana, we follow a defect from detection and assessment through to monitoring, grinding or complete rail replacement.

There’s also a review of the latest rail safety news, including developments following the derailments at Lewes and Wickford, the fatal level-crossing collision near Burscough and the RAIB’s safety digest concerning equipment left on the railway at Queen’s Park.

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Signals to Danger is a UK railway history and safety podcast exploring rail accidents, incidents and the investigations that followed them. From historic railway disasters to modern rail safety and current events, each episode looks beyond what happened to understand why it happened, what was learned and how those lessons continue to shape the railway today.

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On the evening of 5 November 1967, a packed passenger train was making an otherwise ordinary journey from Hastings towards London Charing Cross when, on the approach to Hither Green, its third coach suddenly derailed at around 70 mph.

What followed became one of Britain's deadliest post-war railway accidents. Coaches overturned, the train was scattered across more than half a kilometre of railway and 49 lost their lives.

In this episode of Signals to Danger, we reconstruct the Hither Green disaster and ask a deceptively simple question: why do trains derail?

From wheel and rail dynamics to suspension, track condition and obstructions, we explore the different ways a train can leave the rails before following investigators to the small fatigue crack which ultimately revealed what had gone wrong at Hither Green — and the changes to rail inspection and infrastructure which followed.

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Signals to Danger is a UK railway history and safety podcast exploring rail accidents, incidents and the investigations that followed them. From historic railway disasters to modern rail safety and current events, each episode looks beyond what happened to understand why it happened, what was learned and how those lessons continue to shape the railway today.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 14 August 2026, a London-bound passenger train derailed while approaching Wickford in Essex, with its rearmost vehicle travelling for around 1.5 miles while derailed before the train came to a stand.

In this Flash Briefing, we look at the first information released by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), including the driver's report of a kink in the track, evidence of a track misalignment, the sequence of events as the train approached Wickford and the damage caused during the derailment.

We also look ahead to the RAIB investigation, which will consider the condition and maintenance of the track, the effectiveness of measures intended to manage the risks of operating trains during hot weather, and the performance of the Class 720 train during the derailment.

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Signals to Danger is a UK railway history and safety podcast exploring rail accidents, incidents and the investigations that followed them. From historic railway disasters to modern rail safety and current events, each episode looks beyond what happened to understand why it happened, what was learned and how those lessons continue to shape the railway today.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 13 August 2026, Southern service 1F34 was approaching Lewes when the rear three vehicles of the eight-car train derailed and overturned on the railway embankment.

A week on, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch has released an update providing our first detailed insight into what happened — and in this flash briefing, we take a look at what we know so far.

We’ll examine the track geometry irregularity identified immediately before the derailment, reports of rough riding from other trains, the condition of the embankment, the exceptionally hot and dry weather, and the evidence RAIB is now analysing.

Importantly, this isn't about deciding what caused the accident, this is a snapshot of what we know, what we don't yet know, and what the investigation will be looking at next.

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This time on Rail Safety Review, we’re looking at a couple of recent RAIB reports — including something we haven’t covered before: a discontinuation report following a tram derailment at Manchester Piccadilly.

Then we head to Sheffield to look at the report into a Supertram collision with two pedestrians at Staniforth Road footpath crossing, including some interesting findings around crossing design, audible warnings and the factors affecting the consequences of a collision.

Finally, we take a look at some of your suggestions for future Rail Safety Reviews, from trespass and track worker safety to international railway safety systems and the effects of heat on the railway.

A shorter review than usual, but still plenty to get stuck into.

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Before two trains collided outside Watford Junction in 1996, every safeguard appeared to be in place.

This week on Signals to Danger, we examine a crash that left investigators asking whether the cause lay with the driver, the signalling, or something far less obvious. As the evidence unfolds, a far more complicated picture begins to emerge.

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This month's Rail Safety Review takes a closer look at one of the railway's most persistent risks: level crossings.

Following the latest developments in the RAIB investigation into the collision at Hoghton level crossing, we explore why level crossing fatalities are rising, examine recent accident investigations at Pewsey and Bourneview, and look at the engineering, education and safety campaigns designed to prevent future tragedies. From warning systems and human factors to new initiatives like No Second Chances, this episode asks what more can be done to keep people safe where roads and railways meet.

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This week, Signals to Danger heads back to Glasgow to examine the tragic head-on collision at Newton Junction in July 1991.

On a busy Sunday evening, a series of seemingly routine train movements, a recently remodelled junction and a single signal passed at danger combined to produce one of Britain's most devastating suburban railway accidents. Four people lost their lives, including both drivers, and investigators were left asking whether the tragedy was the result of human error alone—or whether the railway itself had been redesigned in a way that left too little margin for that error to occur.

HSE Report into Newton Junction

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