Derailment sparks fresh level crossing safety fears

Published on Wednesday 18 August 2010 17:14

Concern has been raised over rail safety after a derailment at a level crossing left 21 people including the train driver injured, one seriously.

• The scene in Little Cornard, in Suffolk, after a passenger train hit a tanker carrying sewage on an unmanned rail crossing Picture: PA

The first of a train's two carriages was derailed in the accident at Little Cornard, near 'Sudbury, in Suffolk, late on Tuesday, emergency service workers said.

Keith Norman, general secretary of the train drivers' union Aslef, said: "It saddens me that lessons have not been learned from previous accidents and that the health and safety of many level crossings remains outdated.

"Despite an expensive campaign to promote its record on level crossings, Network Rail has failed to modernise many of these crucial interfaces between road and rail, thereby doing a great disservice to rail passengers and staff, as well as the wider public."

A 58-year-old man was in a "critical but stable" condition in hospital last night after suffering "life-threatening" abdominal injuries when the train hit a sewage tanker.