Branson blames track for fatal UK train crash
Source: Reuters
(changes dateline, adds details, quotes) By Phil Noble GRAYRIGG, England, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A defective track caused a high-speed train accident in northwest England which killed an elderly woman and seriously injured five other people, according to the boss of the train company involved. The state-of-the-art Virgin Pendolino tilting train, heading from London to Glasgow, derailed at 95 mph (150 kph) shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday in a remote area of Cumbria, scattering carriages down the side of a steep embankment. "I've been told the line was defective," Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Group, told reporters. "I've been told that it was the points that failed." About 100 passengers were on board the train and a number of them had to be rescued from overturned carriages. Officials said an 80-year-old woman died and 22 people were injured, including five who were seriously hurt. Police said it was "little short of a miracle" there had not been more deaths. Rail accident investigator Thomas Edwards said the inquiry would concentrate on a set of points. "Having a set of points immediately prior to an accident always makes those points very suspect, and given the information we have ... that's the focus of attention," said John Armitt, the chief executive of track operator Network Rail. "There is a possibility that it has been something which has occurred which Network Rail is responsible for." Police said routine maintenance work had been carried out on the track during the previous week. LATEST CRASH The crash is the latest to hit Britain's railways. In 2002, seven passengers died in a derailment at Potters Bar, north of London, while two years earlier four people were killed in a derailment at Hatfield near London. The worst accident in recent years was in 1999 when two trains collided near the capital's Paddington station, killing 31. Branson said rail travel remained the safest form of transport. He said the Pendolinos were "built like tanks", and their integral safety had prevented the accident from causing far more casualties that would have occurred with older trains. Virgin Trains, 49 percent-owned by bus and train operator Stagecoach Group Plc and 51 percent by Virgin Group, said there was no question of withdrawing the Pendolinos from service. The Pendolino (Italian for "tilting") was developed in Italy by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was bought by French firm Alstom in 2000.
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