Track inspection was abandoned just yards from site of fatal crash, Network Rail admits

Published on Wednesday 5 September 2007 00:06

NETWORK Rail has admitted major failings in its track inspection regime, which included a maintenance check being abandoned yards from where a Glasgow-bound train later derailed, killing a Scottish pensioner.

A highly critical report by the rail firm into the February crash in Cumbria showed a multitude of shortcomings, from inspection level to management.

Tony Collins, the chief executive of the Virgin Rail Group, whose Pendolino tilting train came off the rails at Lambrigg, near Kendal, said the report "clearly indicates some fundamental deficiencies".

Margaret Masson, 84, from Cardonald, Glasgow, died in the accident and 22 people were treated in hospital.

Network Rail said 120 sets of points similar to the ones at the crash site would have parts replaced, including 34 in Scotland.

A 46-year-old Network Rail employee was arrested in July in connection with the incident and is due to appear in court next month.

Louise Christian, a solicitor representing seven people injured in the crash and the families of people killed at the Potters Bar crash in 2002, called for a joint public inquiry into the accidents, adding: "This report underlines the concerns that the issues are, in both cases, systemic failure of maintenance."

The Network Rail report showed a track inspector walked off the railway close to where he would have discovered critical track failures on 18 February - five days before the crash.

It also revealed loose bolts were found on the Lambrigg 2B points more than six weeks before the crash. They were replaced, but the cause of the problem was never investigated.

In later weeks, trains passing over the points dislodged the bolts again and caused "stretcher bars" separating two sets of track to come under pressure. As a result, the train smashed into the points at 95mph, throwing it from the track.

Iain Coucher, Network Rail's chief executive,

said: "[The track inspector's] records show that he stopped short.

"The supervisor did not pick up on the fact the inspection had not been carried out. We do not know why he finished early.

"If he had worked across to those points on 18 February, the state of the points would have shown that the third stretcher bar was broken."

He repeated his apology for the crash and said the company was "devastated by the events of that evening".

Mr Coucher said the organisation accepted "full responsibility" for the accident. He said there were failings in inspections, the supervision of inspections and in the management structure around both.

And he added that there were 120 sets of points nationwide similar to those at Lambrigg which would be redesigned. These would have their stretcher bars and bolts replaced by next month.

He said: "

Since the accident, more than 14,000 points - every single one on the network - have been checked. The points at Lambrigg have been removed and will not be replaced."

The company has also appointed new "points squads" to check points and instigated new staff training schemes.

The report also found:

• The change to a new inspection regime was "poorly planned and poorly managed";

• Weekend inspections in Cumbria and Lancashire relied on overtime, leading to a lack of continuity between inspectors;

• Some track inspectors were not certified to carry out such work as their accreditation had lapsed;

• Relations between patrollers and supervisors had broken down.

A British Transport Police investigation is ongoing and criminal charges have not been ruled out. The final report of the government's rail accident investigation branch is pending.

The Network Rail report came as investigations were continuing into a set of points in a tunnel in Glasgow where a train derailed on Monday. Wheels on the train are also being checked.

NEW HIGH-SPEED RAIL SERVICE SETS LONDON-PARIS RECORD

EUROSTAR yesterday set a new record for train travel between Paris and London of just over two hours.

The 18-coach train left Gare du Nord at 9:44am and arrived at the newly-refurbished St Pancras station two hours three minutes and 39 seconds later.

The train was the first to travel on the new, 5.8 billion dedicated high-speed route, which runs for 68 miles from the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone in Kent to central London. The train travelled at speeds of more than 200mph in France and reached a maximum of 186mph on the British section.

The journey was more than 30 minutes faster than the current two hours 35 minutes time between Paris and London's Waterloo International, which will close in November when services switch to St Pancras. Backers say the service is set to become the fastest way to travel from central London to central Paris.

From 14 November, the train will speed between the two tourist spots in two hours and 15 minutes, leaving airlines lagging well behind. An aircraft may touch down at a Parisian airport a little over an hour after leaving London, but none of the airports serving either capital are particularly close to the city.