Request an accessible format. If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email enquiries@raib.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use. Summary At around 10:52 hrs on Wednesday 8 April 2020, a passenger train, travelling at 90 mph (145 km/h), struck and fatally injured a track worker on the West Coast main line near the village of Roade, Northamptonshire. The accident happened because the track worker, who was the person in charge of the work with responsibilities as Controller of Site Safety, was walking along a line that was open to traffic and did not look towards the approaching train on hearing its warning horn. He had gone back onto the track after handing back a blockage of the line, which had been taken to isolate the overhead line equipment, a task which, it was later appreciated, did not need to be done every day. It is not possible to determine with certainty why the track worker decided to walk on the track with no protection, but it is probable he had a purpose in mind and that he believed that no trains were due on the line he was walking along. There is also witness evidence suggesting that he had become habituated to warnings from approaching trains.