An initial hearing into the prosecutions brought against West Coast Railway Company (WCR) by the Office of Rail and Road was held at Swindon Magistrates Court on January 20. No pleas were entered, and the next hearing is to be held at Swindon Crown Court on February 19.
The prosecutions relate to the incident of March 7 2015, when steam locomotive 34067 Tangmere passed a signal at danger at Wootton Bassett Junction on the Great Western Main Line and overran by 689 metres. It straddled the junction around a minute after a First Great Western High-Speed Train had passed through (RAIL 771-773).
The ORR is prosecuting both WCR and Tangmere’s driver that day - Melvyn Cox, of Swanage.
WCR faces charges under Sections 3.1 and 2.1 of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), while Cox faces charges under Sections 7(a) and 8.
The first hearing had been deferred from January 11.
