Senior transport union official Mick Cash has called for "fundamental flaws" in the railway system to be sorted out in the wake to the Potters Bar accident.

Mr Cash, assistant general secretary of the RMT union and a Watford councillor, said it was time for the industry to face facts.

He said: "We can't keep ignoring the obvious.

"The core problem has been the fragmentation caused by privatisation.

"That is what we have to tackle now, no matter what comes out of the Potters Bar accident".

Amid increasing evidence the crash was caused by inadequate maintenance, two RMT members said they had logged problems around Potters Bar before the accident, including loose, rusty bolts on the points.

Mr Cash said the contracting out of safety work was one of the uncorrected failings.

He said: "The obvious solution is for Railtrack to do all the infrastructure instead of contracting them out to third parties."

His comments apparently received support from Railtrack itself.

According to The Independent, Railtrack technical director Richard Middleton, has accepted a lack of consistent standards and insufficient emphasis on technical competence since privatisation.

And in an interview with Rail magazine, head of engineering education at Railtrack David Carrier, said: "The competence of the whole industry has eroded."

Mr Cash repeated calls for a full public inquiry into last Friday's incident, saying is was important the process took place in the open.

He said: "We are disappointed at this stage the Government have only gone for a HSE led inquiry."

And he made clear public confidence in rail travel would be severely shaken unless real results were seen.

The union official said: "We have had two or three inquiries into accidents which have thrown up something in the region of 300 recommendations.

"We are having these inquiries but not a lot is being done afterwards."

Mr Phil Glazebrook, chairman of Watford Rail Users' Group (WRUG), said something "serious" had to be done to bring the railways up to standard.

He said "get rid of the damned contractors" and called for maintenance to be brought back in house.

Mr Glazebrook said early crash evidence pointed towards poorly trained staff who have "not covered basic vital safety measures".

He also said there "had to be" a public inquiry, adding "if Transport Minister Stephen Byers says no he's asking for problems."

The WRUG chairman said core issues about how the railway was "managed and maintained", and its "level of commitment to safety" had to be revisited.

May 20, 2002 16:00