Guilty plea over rail crash

RAIL bosses have admitted safety failings that led to the 2002 Potters Bar train crash.

Track and station owner Network Rail told a court it will plead guilty to breaching regulations over the condition of tracks at the disaster site.

Six passengers and a pedestrian died when a West Anglia Great Northern express train travelling from London to King's Lynn derailed at a faulty set of points in Hertfordshire on 10 May, 2002.

Network Rail will be sentenced at St Albans Crown Court next month for failings over the installation, maintenance and inspection of adjustable stretcher bars, which keep the moveable section of a track at the correct width for train wheels.

The Office of Rail Regulation launched proceedings over breaches of health and safety law following the conclusion of an inquest last year.