Worker 'had reported crash track'

Faulty points on the track outside the station were to blame, rail officials say

LONDON, England -- A rail worker alerted management to problems at the points at Potters Bar, near London, three weeks before Friday's crash that killed seven people, a union leader has said.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT transport union, said the worker was giving evidence about his concerns to police.

Missing nuts in the rail switching points have been pinpointed as the probable cause for the latest deadly crash to strike Britain's rail network. (Seven dead in UK crash)

Crow said the worker, an RMT member, reported a problem with the check rail near the points and said the track was in a poor state.

He reported to management a problem with the check rail leading to the points at Potters Bar," Crow told the Press Association.

"Our member wrote a letter saying that the track was not in a fit state. No response was made to him.

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"He is now speaking to British Transport Police explaining what he said."

Crow was speaking as the fatal fourth carriage of the train that had become wedged in the platforms at Potters Bar was being removed on Monday with the help of Britain's largest crane.

Britain's Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers, was due to address parliament on the issue on Monday afternoon. (Inquiry opens)

Crow said he did not want to specify the man's job or say to whom he had written. Members of the public told over the weekend how they were used to hearing a jolt as trains approached Potters Bar station at speed.

"I think it is scandalous what has been put around in the media this weekend about this being a one-off," said Crow.

"This wasn't a one-off. I don't think it was sabotage, I think the vibrations of the train allowed the nuts to come off the bolts."

Crow said safety standards were inadequate because there were not enough track inspectors, and too many casual workers were responsible for track work.

"A track inspector will have miles and miles of track to cover," said Crow. "He cannot possibly spot everything.

"There needs to be four times as many track inspectors."

The jammed fourth carriage of the train was being removed on Monday

He added: "And if we cannot have re-nationalisation then at least all the workers should be brought under the umbrella of Railtrack.

"Short-term and casual workers do not bring the dedication to the job that long term workers on full time contracts do. Railtrack is the ultimate person with responsibility."

But Jarvis, the contractor that maintains the track at the site of the fatal train crash at Potters Bar, near London, dismissed suggestions of using untrained workers.

Jarvis said one of its maintenance teams tested the Potters Bar track on May 1 and a visual inspection followed on May 9, the day before the crash.

Jarvis and rail network operator Railtrack have said the points at the centre of the accident investigation met safety standards on May 9. (More on points theory)

"In both cases, these tests and inspections were carried out by full-time Jarvis employees. No sub-contracted personnel were involved," Jarvis said in a statement released by the London Stock Exchange on Monday. (Jarvis shares plunge)

"Each of the Jarvis staff involved is fully experienced and qualified and holds all requisite training certification," it added in the statement dated May 12.

The Times newspaper reported on Monday that the head of rail network operator Railtrack had been "deeply concerned" about casual, unqualified labourers being hired to repair tracks.

A policewoman adds her tribute to the flowers outside the station

John Armitt told the paper that contracts with rail maintenance companies such as Jarvis were too short to encourage investment in sufficient numbers of qualified staff and modern equipment.

"There's always a tendency, particularly in construction-related industries, to take a short cut and try and do a job more quickly," he was quoted as saying.

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

Among the victims was Austen Kark, the former head of the British Broadcasting Corporation's World Service, who was aged 75. His wife, children's writer Nina Bawden, 77, is recovering from multiple fractures.

Potters bar resident Agnes Quinlivan, 80, was killed by falling debris as she walked under the station bridge.

Others who died were Swiss-born Cambridge University divinity student Jonael Shickler, 25, Londoner Alexander Ogonwusi, 42, Emma Knights, 29 from Cambridgeshire and Chia-Ching Wu, 32 and Chia-Hsin Lin, 29, who worked for the same Taiwanese TV station. (Taiwan reporters among dead)

Their friend Hai Jiu-Liu is 'critical' in intensive care at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead with brain injuries.

The 35-year-old, a prominent journalist in Hong Kong, is known to about 1.8 billion people, Hertfordshire Police said. Her family at currently at her bedside.

A pile of flowers from well wishers and mourners outside the entrance to Potters Bar train station continued to grow on Monday.

Meanwhile it was revealed that one survivor of the crash -- buffet trolley attendant Karl Brodrick, 44, had survived the Hillsborough soccer stadium disaster 10 years previously that killed 96.

Friday's accident happened a few miles from Hatfield, where four people died when an express came off the tracks in 2000. (Full story)