Railway accidents

[mgrsmith]

Picking recent (living memory) accidents is not always a good technique. Picking something more obscure forces focus.

Alternatively, pick something that is very recent that you know about but perhaps the examiner's don't.  If I were doing the exam this year I'd have picked the collision at Waterloo between the passenger train and the engineering train whilst the area was being relaid and the signaling amended.....

It often isn't the accidents with a large number of casualties that are best for learning lessons; those that by luck have much more minor consequences or are "incidents" rather than "accidents" happen far more frequently, get less publicity but are just as important since in other circumstances could have ended far differently.

Personally, I think Waterloo would not be appropriate; as far as I am aware the investigation is ongoing and the therefore the circumstances unknown (although I'm sure they already are to those involved). Without a published report the examiners would therefore be unable to check on the veracity of any answer provided.
Admittedly, often the actual cause of the accident is only part of what a question is looking for but rather how it would be investigated and what measures could be taken to prevent a recurrence are often more pertinent in the exam.

Waterloo will definitely be good exam material but I think incidents for which published reports are available would be appropriate. 

Best regards,

Mike