Port Glasgow: two track workers struck by crane wagon — RAIB Report 03/2026

At around 20:30 on 15 March 2025, during an engineering possession near Port Glasgow station, Inverclyde, a wagon being propelled by a rail-mounted crane struck two track workers. One worker was trapped between the wagon and the lifting beam of a second crane and was seriously injured. The second worker was trapped under the wagon and suffered minor injuries.

What happened

Three rail-mounted cranes were being used as part of a track renewal operation within the possession. One crane had lowered a section of new track panel onto the track ahead of a second crane and wagon, which was moving to collect it. Two track workers were standing on the track close to the panel, discussing where it had been set down.

The staff member controlling the propelling crane issued a stop command over the radio. The crane driver did not receive it. The workers on the track did not recognise that the crane had not stopped, and it struck them.

What RAIB found

RAIB Report 03/2026, published 24 March 2026, identified the following:

The operator of the propelling crane was unable to see in the direction of travel and was entirely reliant on radioed instructions from the ground controller. There was no lighting on the leading end of the wagon being propelled — a direct requirement of the railway Rule Book — which meant workers had no warning of its approach.

The radio stop command was not received because the communications equipment being used did not comply with Network Rail requirements for duplex communications systems or product-approved equipment. Network Rail had no effective assurance processes to check compliance.

A further finding was that operational rules applicable to rail cranes were not being recognised as relevant to these machines, and were not being applied.

COSS briefing failure

RAIB highlighted as a learning point that the two workers had not been briefed by a COSS before beginning work in the area where they were struck. Staff compliance with the requirement to only start work after a COSS briefing is a fundamental control. When it breaks down, workers lose the protection that the safe system of work is designed to provide.

Recommendations

RAIB made one recommendation to Swietelsky Construction — to review communications equipment and protocols used when controlling rail crane movements. Two recommendations were made to Network Rail — to review standards for radio communications controlling on-track machine movements, and to improve assurance processes for monitoring compliance.

What managers must act on

This incident demonstrates that a possession boundary does not automatically make an area safe. Workers must be briefed by a COSS before starting work, communications equipment must meet required standards, and on-track machines must comply with Rule Book lighting requirements.

Managers should verify that their COSS-qualified staff understand their responsibility to brief every worker before work begins — not as a formality, but as the primary control preventing incidents exactly like this one.

Source: RAIB Report 03/2026 — Two track workers struck by a wagon being propelled by a rail crane at Port Glasgow, published 24 March 2026. Available at gov.uk.