Студопедия — HOW HATFIELD CHANGED THE RAIL INDUSTRY
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HOW HATFIELD CHANGED THE RAIL INDUSTRY






The October 2000 train disaster had far-reaching effects on Britain's railways
www.guardian.co.uk
Press Association
September 6, 2005

The Hatfield rail crash was by no means the worst train disaster in terms of fatalities but it had a devastating effect on rail services that was to last for years.

The disaster in October 2000 also hastened the demise of Railtrack, thus ensuring a new approach to the way the railways are run.

An edition of Rail magazine, appearing less than a month after the Hatfield derailment, proved to be spot-on with its assessment that the accident "seems destined to change the face of Britain's railway network forever".

Passengers were quick to notice the changes - their trains were subject to severe disruption.

Huge delays were caused by Railtrack's decision to impose hundreds of speed restrictions throughout the national network so that rails could be checked for possible cracks.

Service levels slumped, with long-distance operators such as Virgin Trains particularly badly hit.

Shortly after the Hatfield accident, Virgin Trains chief executive Chris Green - an admired official with many years of rail experience - said: "We are now living through the biggest disruption to the rail network that I have ever experienced".

It is only now, nearly five years on, that punctuality has finally returned to its pre-Hatfield level among passenger train companies.

Railtrack's chief executive, Gerald Corbett, offered his resignation immediately after the derailment but his board rejected the offer.

While passengers endured a dreadful winter of 2000/01 on the railways, recriminations began. The Strategic Rail Authority chairman, Sir Alastair Morton, bemoaning the numerous speed restrictions, said the accident had "spooked" the rail industry, adding that operators could have coped better with the crisis.

The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, said passengers had become "increasingly fed-up at what they see as continuing and unnecessary delays in getting the rail network up to speed".

The crisis certainly got to Railtrack. In November 2000 Mr Corbett did resign and the full extent of Railtrack's failings were exposed in the Health and Safety Executive's January 2001 second interim report into the Hatfield crash.

The HSE said cracks in the track at Hatfield were not picked up during a visual inspection just a week before the crash.

No speed restrictions were in place at the time of the crash and the HSE said that Railtrack had a system that was not optimised to look at the sort of cracks that were occurring at Hatfield.

It was at the time of the publication of this second report that the HSE said that senior Railtrack and Balfour Beatty executives could face manslaughter charges as well as prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

It would not be until July 2003 that six rail managers and engineers, including Mr Corbett, were sent for trial for manslaughter.

By then, Railtrack was long gone. In May 2001 it had announced a £534m loss and further calls for money from the government prompted the then transport secretary Stephen Byers to take steps to put the company into administration in October 2001.

There was no doubt that the Hatfield accident had sparked the cash crisis which saw the company's shares fall from a one-time high of more than £17 to less than £3.

A recent report by rightwing thinktank the Adam Smith Institute said that Railtrack "simply panicked in its reaction to the crash".

The report said: "It seems that the lack of detailed knowledge of engineering and railway operations in Railtrack's senior management was the problem."

a rail crash; a train disaster; fatalities; to have a devastating effect on rail services; the way the railways are run; derailment; to be destined to change the face of Britain's railway network forever; to be subject to severe disruption; to cause huge delays; to impose hundreds of speed restrictions; rails – to be checked for possible cracks; service levels – to slump; disruption to the rail network; to become "increasingly fed-up at continuing and unnecessary delays in getting the rail network up to speed"; to expose the full extent of Railtrack's failings; a crack in the track; to be/not to be picked up during a visual inspection; to face manslaughter charges; to be sent for trial for manslaughter.

2. Read the article. Sum it up in 5 sentences.

Do you agree that it could have been sabotage? Are these sorts of things common in your country?

TRAIN CRASH: IT COULD HAVE BEEN SABOTAGE

By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE, CHRISTIAN WOLMAR and ELEANOR MAYNE
The Daily Mail

25 February 2007

 

In echoes of Potters Bar, train crash investigators find four vital bolts lying at the side of the tracks as Network Rail orders checks on 600 sets of points around Britain...

Rail crash investigators were facing up to the possibility that the Virgin train derailment could have been the result of sabotage.

Four vital steel bolts from a set of points that the train had just crossed were found lying at the side of the track.

The bolts should have been firmly fixed to a track stretcher bar on the high-speed West Coast line at Grayrigg, near Kendal, Cumbria.

Network Rail, which is responsible for track maintenance, said it would require a specialist heavy spanner used by rail engineers to remove the bolts.

One senior railway executive told The Mail on Sunday last night: "Four bolts were lying there neatly. They had been removed recently. It's very odd. It's a mystery. We cannot give a rational explanation. We have to try to find out who has been there recently and why somebody would do this. Sabotage cannot be ruled out."

One woman - 84-year-old Margaret Masson from Glasgow - died and 100 of the estimated 120 passengers were injured, five seriously, when the London to Glasgow Virgin Pendolino tilting train left the track at 95 mph at 8.15pm on Friday night. Experts were astonished there was no greater loss of life.

The crash appears eerily similar to the Potters Bar accident five years ago, which killed seven people.

Investigators found that nuts were missing from key bolts on a track stretcher bar which fractured, derailing the train. An inquiry by the Health and Safety Executive ruled out sabotage, which had been alleged by maintenance contractor Jarvis. Since then, responsibility for maintenance has been taken over by Network Rail.

In Friday's crash, the carriages careered down an embankment, and the leading engine ended up on its own facing in the opposite direction in a field. Police, fire and ambulance crews worked in rain and pitch-black conditions to rescue the injured, smashing their way into carriages.

Dazed passengers showed remarkable resilience and stumbled through the darkness to reach isolated farmhouses nearby.

Last night, as the investigation centred on the points, Network Rail announced that a further 600 similar points around Britain would be checked for faults.

Network Rail chief executive John Armitt said: "A points failure can be due to various causes. I have to live with the reality that something could have gone wrong on our watch."

Mr Armitt said the points at the crash scene had been given a monthly inspection in early February, with the next due in a week. A 13-weekly inspection took place two months ago, and the annual inspection was made last June.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, said: "There was a track inspection a few days ago and there were no problems. But all of a sudden the bolts are off.

"The reality is that after Potters Bar they've allowed a situation where nuts and bolts have fallen off. Nuts and bolts go on jumbo jets, they go on space ships. How come they don't fall off?

"I can't say if it's sabotage. But management have to take the rap when it goes wrong. We will not allow our staff to be scapegoats."

Mrs Masson was travelling home on the train with her daughter Margaret Langley, 61, from Southport, Merseyside, and her husband Richard, 63. Mrs Langley was 'very poorly' and deteriorating in the Royal Preston Hospital last night, and her husband was 'critical'.

Mrs Masson's granddaughter Margaret Jones, 41, said last night: "We are devastated by the death of our Nan and about Mum and Dad being so very poorly.

"We are distraught but we are all here for our parents and we ask that we are left alone to cope during this difficult time."

The train driver, Ian Black, 46, from Scotland, was in a 'very critical but stable' condition with chest and neck injuries at the Royal Preston Hospital.

Sir Richard Branson, who flew back from a family holiday in the Swiss Alps to visit the crash scene, sent his condolences to Mrs Masson's family and described Mr Black as a hero.

He said the driver had done a 'tremendous job' staying at the controls in a desperate attempt to steer the train to safety.

"Our driver could have run from his seat and dashed to the next carriage, where he might well have been safe,' said Sir Richard. "Instead, he tried to steer the train to safety. He ended up quite badly injured. I am honestly not worried at this moment who is to blame. If it was a faulty line, then we have to make sure it never happens again."

He added he was sure the Virgin train was "100 per cent safe" and was "built like a tank".

Rebecca Denholme, 25, from Glasgow, who escaped with bruising, described how she was flung around her carriage before it came to rest upside down.

"When I stopped moving my seat was on the ceiling, which was quite strange," she said. "It was like being in a pinball machine. I feel like I have been beaten up."

  1. Read this article. Sum it up in 7-8 sentences. Use the topical vocabulary from the box.

Conduct a similar survey in your group. Is the situation similar or different in your country? What would be your verdict on our trains?







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