The Colwich rail crash occurred on the evening of Friday 19 September 1986 at Colwich Junction, Staffordshire, England. It was significant in that it was a high speed collision between two packed express trains. One driver was killed, but no passengers died because of the great strength of the rolling stock involved, which included examples of Mk1, Mk2 and Mk3 coaches. Background Colwich Junction lies between Rugeley and Stafford and is where the four-track West Coast Main Line from London splits into two routes. Approaching from the south, two tracks go to Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent and two tracks go to Stafford and Crewe. In the middle of the layout, two of the lines cross each other at a diamond crossing. In August 1986, the signalling was altered so that drivers of northbound trains taking the Stoke line would see flashing yellow signals on approach. The rulebook meaning of this was: "A flashing yellow aspect means facing points at a junction ahead are set for a diverging route and the speed of the train must be reduced". This sequence of signalling was designed for use at higher-speed turnouts as a replacement for approach release, where the junction signal is held at red until the train is near to it. Over the next few years, flashing yellows were also installed at locations where trains cross over between different tracks travelling in the same direction, e.g. from a "fast" line to a "slow" line. While not "junctions" in the traditional sense, the signalling sequence was identical to that given at a "diverging" route. The accident On 19 September 1986, the signalman at Colwich saw that the 17:00 express train from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly was approaching the junction at roughly the same time as the 17:20 express from Liverpool to Euston. He decided to give precedence to the latter and so the Manchester train might need to wait its turn over the junction. The Manchester train needed to cross from the Down Fast to the Down Slow line before turning off towards Stoke. The signals presented to its driver were as follows: After passing over the crossover he saw that CH23 was still red. Having interpreted the flashing yellows to mean that the route was set all the way over the junction to Stoke, he was expecting this signal to clear as he approached it (as under the approach release system). But