Poor maintenance has been highlighted as a factor in the Potters Bar rail crash, in a report released today.

The crash, which killed seven people and injured 67 others, happened when a express train carriage derailed and crashed into Potters Bar station, Hertfordshire, in May last year.

An interim report by the Health and Safety Executive says the most likely cause of the derailment was the poor condition of points on tracks, which was not helped by inadequate safety inspections.

The maintenance and adjustment problems were probably a result of "failures of management systems", the report says.

"The Board is satisfied that no evidence has yet been established to support speculation about sabotage or deliberate unauthorized interference," it continues.

This is a direct rejection of claims by Jarvis, the firm responsible for line maintenance at Potters Bar, that the tracks had been sabotaged.

The report details the chain of events as the express London to Norfolk train derailed while travelling at 97m/h.

As the third of the four carriages passed over a set of points on tracks just before Potters Bar station, a switch on the points moved.

Bolts that held part of the switch in place were found to be missing, the report says.

This allowed one side of the switch to shift; meaning the right-side of the track was now set to turn the train.

As the fourth carriage hit this switch, its wheels derailed, sending it crashing through the air.

The carriage hit a bridge, sending debris onto a street below, as it rolled over on its side.

After ploughing into the station platform, it came to rest wedged between the platform and the canopy.

Six passengers were killed and dozens injured in the carriage, and one person was killed and others injured from debris coming off the bridge.

More people would have been died if the crash had occurred during busy periods when the platform is often crowded, the report notes.

May 29, 2003 16:30