UK fatal rail crash inquiry begins

One of the train's carriages straddles the station's tracks

POTTERS BAR, England -- Investigations have begun into the rail crash near London, that killed seven people and injured 90 others.

The crash, on Friday, happened a few miles from Hatfield, where four people died when a Great North Eastern Railways express came off the tracks in October 2000.

As a result of that, and other recent crashes, the investigators will look at several possible causes including vandalism, mechanical fault -- on either the train or the signals -- the condition of the railtrack and human error.

A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: "Our Railway Inspectorate team are looking into this incident."

It is known a set of wheels came off the final carriage, and soon after arriving at the crash site investigators covered a set of points immediately behind the accident scene with a blue tarpaulin, possibly suggesting a fault on either train or track.

The 12.45 p.m. (1145 GMT) West Anglia Great Northern is thought to have derailed at a speed near 100 mph as it approached Potters Bar station.

MORE STORIES • UK fatal rail crash inquiry begins  • Seven dead in UK rail crash  • On the scene: 'Complete devastation'  • Witnesses describe crash horror  • More misery on Britain's rails  • Rail expert: Points may have moved  • Timeline: History of tragedy    EXTRA INFORMATION Photo gallery: Scenes from the crash    EMERGENCY CONTACT 00 44 (0)845 944 1551

It had departed London's King's Cross station bound for King's Lynn, in eastern England, with 151 passengers on board. (Full story)

Railtrack, the company that owns and runs Britain's rail infrastructure, confirmed the train had four carriages, three of which had derailed.

More than 20 ambulances were called to what many witnesses described as a "scene of carnage." (Witness accounts)

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers has asked investigators from the Health and Safety Executive to report their preliminary findings about the cause of the accident to him "as soon as possible."

He said it would be "totally inappropriate" to comment on the possible causes.

One benefit to the inquiry will be that the driver of the train, Andy Gibson, escaped uninjured and was able to give "vital assistance" to passengers, said his union Aslef.

Gibson's first-hand account of the last moments of the train's journey is likely to be vital in the search for the cause.

Byers told reporters: "We have the investigators on site as they are at the moment and they will give me their preliminary findings as soon as possible."

Richard Hope, of the Railway Gazette, told CNN: "It looks to me as though the points -- or switch in American terms -- moved under the train.

The train came to rest jammed on the Potters Bar platform

"As the train actually went over them, the points may have moved or changed or become damaged in some way, so that the tail end of the train actually tried to take the diverging track, and that's why the last car got spun round through 90 degrees or so and has ended up jammed in the station buildings, but right across the tracks."

Robin Gisby, regional director of Railtrack, said: "It's too early to say what caused the train to come off the track in the manner it did.

"This is a high speed derailment. One passenger train crashed. No other train was involved."

Chief Superintendent Andy Wright, of Hertfordshire Police, said: "In terms of the size and the scale of what has happened it is fair to say it has similarities to Hatfield.

"It is on the same line. Regrettably I was present at Hatfield some 18 months or so ago and it is comparable to that." (Full story)

Gisby said: "In terms of similarity to Hatfield I was not director at the time of Hatfield and I couldn't comment.

"The obvious similarity is that this is a high speed derailment of a passenger train with fatalities."

Railway Gazette editor Murray Hughes said he "immediately recalled the Eschede disaster" when he learned of Potter Bar

The Potters Bar accident also has chilling parallels with one of Europe's worst recent rail disasters -- the June 1998 incident when a Hanover to Hamburg express train crashed at Eschede in northern Germany killing more than 100. (Story)

That crash was caused by a piece of broken wheel striking a set of points as the high-speed train was moved from one track to another.

Murray Hughes, editor of the Railway Gazette, said: "Certainly investigators will want to look at the wheels in the Potters Bar incident.

"The Eschede crash was an example of what can happen if there is a problem with the wheels."

The Potters Bar crash is a massive body blow to an industry which has lurched from crisis to crisis over recent years. (Details)

The first of the serious accidents came in summer 1996 when one person was killed in an accident at Watford in Hertfordshire.

In September 1997, a collision between a London-bound express train and a goods train at Southall in west London left seven people dead.

This crash was caused by a driver going through a red light and it was the same problem that led to the 31-death Paddington disaster in October 1999.

In February last year a freak road accident caused a crash on the East Coast line at Selby in North Yorkshire killing 10 people. (Story)