A set of points at the center of the investigation into this weekend's fatal train crash were hardly ever used, it emerged on Saturday night. Network Rail, the company responsible for the track, said the points were part of a straight section of track and were only used occasionally, such as to divert trains on to another section of line during engineering work.
A woman died and eight passengers were injured when the Virgin Trains service came off the line and crashed down an embankment at Grayrigg, north of Kendal in the Lake District. The dead woman was named as Margaret Masson, 84, from Glasgow. Her daughter, Margaret Langley, 61, and son-in-law Richard Langley, 63, from Southport, who were also in the carriage, are in hospital.
This is the first time a crash is likely to be blamed on a track failure since Potters Bar nearly five years ago, which followed a spate of fatal accidents that raised serious concerns about the break-up and privatization of British Rail. This crash is likely to raise questions about the standards of infrastructure and maintenance at Network Rail, the government-backed company that took over when the privatized track owner, Railtrack, collapsed in 2002. Network Rail took direct control of maintenance, which had been let out to subcontractors. It has also slashed the annual operating and maintenance bill by ?1.5 billion (US$3 billion) since it took over.
John Armitt, Network Rail's chief executive, said: "A points failure can obviously be due to various causes, but clearly there is a possibility it has been something Network Rail is responsible for, but I cannot say that. I hope that's not the case, but I have to live with the reality that it could be something that has gone wrong under our watch."
Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Group, said: "Network Rail are going to have to look at this and make sure nothing like this ever happens again."
However Paul Martin, director general of the Railway Forum industry lobby group, said passengers should not be worried about travelling by train: "Rail transport is still the safest form of public transport and certainly safer than cars."
There was also widespread praise for how the train carriages appeared to have protected many passengers.
"At 152kph it shows the industry's got it pretty well right," said Professor Roger Kemp of Lancaster University, and a former manager at Alstom, which built the Virgin trains.
Network Rail said the stretch of track at the center of the investigation had last had a regular weekly inspection five days previously, on Sunday, and it was done by a section manager. The last more detailed quarterly inspection was in December.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS