Nationwide safety checks follow UK train crash
Source: Reuters
(updates with checks completed, paragraph 4) By Phil Noble GRAYRIGG, England, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Safety checks were carried out on railway tracks across Britain on Sunday after a high speed train crash in northwest England killed an elderly woman and seriously injured several other passengers. A Virgin Pendolino tilting train, heading from London to Glasgow, derailed at 95 mph (150 kph) on Friday evening in a remote area of Cumbria, scattering carriages down the side of a steep embankment. Accident investigators said their inquiry was concentrating on four main areas -- a set of points, the track between the points and the area where the train derailed, the train itself, and signal boxes and maintenance records. Network Rail carried out safety checks on about 700 sets of points across the country but no other problems were found. "The points are essential to the investigation," said rail accident investigator Thomas Edwards, adding a preliminary report would be ready in the next few days. "Each of those four areas are important and must not be ignored or downplayed." Police said there was no evidence of any terrorism link and John Armitt, chief executive of track operator Network Rail, said he could not confirm reports sabotage was a possible cause or that there were bolts missing from the rail. The set of points under investigation had been inspected on Feb. 3, he told Sky News, adding he expected initial findings to be completed by Monday. Services on the affected line are not expected to restart for at least another week. "MIRACLE" NOT MORE DEAD Police named the dead woman as 84-year-old Margaret Masson, from Glasgow, but have said it was "little short of a miracle" more passengers had not died in the crash which trapped some of the 100 passengers in the overturned carriages. Eleven people are still in hospital with back, leg and head injuries. Rail experts said safety features of the Pendolinos (Italian for "tilting") had restricted casualties. The trains were developed in Italy by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was bought by French firm Alstom <ALSO.PA> in 2000. Bob Crowe, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, said the latest crash demonstrated lessons had not been learnt from previous rail accidents. Missing bolts were blamed for the failure of the points system which led to the 2002 Potters Bar crash that killed seven. The worst accident in recent years was in 1999 when two trains collided near London's Paddington station, killing 31. Virgin Trains is 49 percent-owned by British bus and train operator Stagecoach Group Plc <SGC.L> and 51 percent by Virgin Group [VA.UL].
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