British police probe points over fatal train crash

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) Police investigating the cause of a high-speed train accident in northwest England which killed an elderly woman and injured five other people, said today a set of points could be to blame.

The state-of-the-art Virgin Pendolino tilting train, heading from London to Glasgow, derailed at 150 kph shortly after 8 pm yesterday in a remote area of Cumbria, scattering carriages down the side of an embankment.

Police, who said it was ''little short of a miracle'' there had not been more deaths, said their inquiry was focusing on a set of points.

Emergency workers battled difficult conditions, including torrential rain, to reach around 100 passengers, some of whom were trapped in the overturned carriages.

Officials later said an 80-year-old woman died and 22 people were injured, including five who were seriously hurt.

''We are amazed that we didn't have fatalities actually at the time. We've been very, very fortuntate,'' Chief Superintendent Martyn Ripley of British Transport Police told reporters.

''Our inquiries have led us to believe a set of points could be significant in this inquiry, but we have a lot more work to be done,'' he said.

Routine maintenance work had been carried out on the track during the previous week.

''You were suddenly aware of a jolt and the train started swaying really quite dramatically,'' BBC executive Caroline Thomson, a passenger, told BBC News 24 Television from the scene, in farmland near the town of Kendal on the edge of the Lake District.

She said the train flipped over and came to rest on its side.

The line is expected to be closed for up to six days while investigations are carried out.

''From the information we have been able to piece together so far there must be strong suspicion that the immediate cause is a points failure,'' said Bob Crow, the leader of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union.

A Virgin spokesman told Sky News: ''This is the first incident involving a Pendolino train and we have to very quickly understand why this has happened.'' He said there was no question of withdrawing the trains from service.

The Pendolino (Italian for ''tilting'') was developed in Italy by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was bought by French firm Alstom in 2000. Virgin uses Pendolinos on its mainline routes.

Virgin Trains is 49 percent-owned by British bus and train operator Stagecoach Group Plc and 51 percent by Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

Reuters MS RS1536