Learning Brief 017 – Alton Towers Smiler Ride Crash

What happened?

  • At 13:00 BST there was a problem with one of the trains so engineers were called in
  • An empty test train was sent out but stalled out of sight of the engineers
  • A train with 16 passengers on was then sent out
  • The computer system halted the ride due to the stalled train
  • Engineers believed this to be an error as they could not see the stalled train; there was a mistrust of fault
    signals
  • They manually overrode the computer system
  • This set the 16-passenger train in motion and into the empty carriage

017 PSF Learning Brief – Alton Towers Smiler Crash 2015

Alton Towers Rollercoaster Crash