The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) has opened an investigation into a near miss at Norwood Junction station in South London on Tuesday, 1st July 2025.

The incident happened at around 09:52 on 1st July when a train, operated by Arriva Rail London, departed from Norwood Junction on the Windrush line with a manual access ramp still attached to it.

Manual access ramps are used to enable mobility scooters and wheelchairs to board and alight from trains, and are required to be removed before trains are allowed to depart.

Platform staff had attached the access ramp at a doorway to enable a passenger in a mobility scooter to board the train. The train’s driver was not aware that the access ramp was still attached when they closed the doors and started the train on its journey with the ramp still attached. Fortunately, no one was on the ramp when the train started to move.

As the train moved off, the access ramp was dragged along the platform. Two members of staff and a member of the public were forced to take action to avoid it, and after the train had travelled about 160 metres, the ramp struck a fence at the end of the platform and fell away from the train.

Platform staff alerted the signaller of the incident, and the train was taken out of service at New Cross Gate. Although damage was caused to the access ramp, no staff or passengers suffered injuries during the incident.

The RAIB investigation will seek to determine the sequence of events during the incident, and will consider:

• What were the actions of those involved, and was there anything that may have influenced them?
• What were the arrangements for management of the staff involved, including their training and competence?
• What arrangements were in place to manage and control the risks associated with the provision and use of manual access ramps?
• Were there any underlying management factors?

The investigation by the RAIB is independent of any other investigation that may be carried out by the railway industry or by the industry’s regulator, the Office of Rail and Road. At the conclusion of the RAIB’s investigation, it will publish its report containing its findings and recommendations for improving safety and will make it available on its website.

Other instances of near misses being investigated by the RAIB include one in April in Bookham Tunnel in Surrey and at Chiltern Green in Bedfordshire.