Cumbrian Rail Disaster Caused by Points Failure

24/10/2008

Failures in track maintenance allowed a set of points to deteriorate, causing the Cumbrian Rail disaster, an official report has concluded.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch, in its final report into the derailment at Grayrigg, Cumbria on 23 February 2007, concludes that the immediate cause of the accident was the deterioration of 2B points, as a result of a combination of three factors being; the mechanical failure of a bolted joint, the incorrect set up of the points and a missed track inspection on 18 February 2007, five days before the tragic accident.

Network Rail Chief Executive, Iain Coucher, commented, "The tragedy at Grayrigg was caused by the failure of our infrastructure, something we were devastated to discover."

John Pickering, Head of Personal Injury at Irwin Mitchell said “The final report from the RAIB again highlights the flaws in Network Rail’s inspection systems which were designed to protect the safety of its passengers.

Mr Pickering who is representing victims of the crash continued "The RAIB has made twenty-nine safety recommendations and twenty-one of these are directed towards Network Rail. We would urge all rail operators to follow this safety advice and ensure that their inspection and maintenance systems are of the highest standard."