How Southeastern Javelin was retrieved from siding three months after going through buffers

A Southeastern Javelin unit that overshot the end of a siding in November is now being assessed for repairs, after it was rerailed in mid-February.

DB Cargo UK’s breakdown and recovery team got the unit (395008) back on the rails at the western end of Ramsgate maintenance depot in a two-day operation over the weekend of February 14-16.

The electric multiple unit had gone through the end of the siding on November 28. Since then, it has been tagged with graffiti.

A possession was needed to recover the train, leading to the decision being made to coincide with an existing engineering blockade to reduce disruption. This happened in February, after previous possessions had been postponed.

The end carriage of the six-car unit had to be raised using hydraulic jacks, so that temporary rails could be laid underneath and the buffers be removed from underneath the unit.

Sean Coulby, Head of Breakdown, Recovery and Infrastructure at DB, told RAIL that nearly all the wheels of the lead carriage had come off, with only the second wheelset of the rear bogie “just” on the rails.

Work to raise the unit, remove the buffers and lay the temporary rails went from Friday evening through to Sunday, when a GB Railfreight Class 66 was used to slowly haul the unit into the depot.

A GBRf ‘66’ was needed because it had the bespoke screw coupling allowing it to be attached to the Javelin. Only two DB Class 66s have such couplings, with the rest having incompatible automatic couplings.

Coulby, whose team attends around 140 re-railing incidents a year, admitted that something like that “doesn’t happen that often”.

Southeastern confirmed the unit is now over a pit at Ramsgate depot while a damage assessment is carried out.

A spokesman told RAIL: “We are already discussing the repair with suppliers ,and once we know the extent of the damage we will plan the repair.”