Vital part of rail crash site points missing

LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) Inspectors investigating the cause of a high-speed rail crash in Cumbria said today a crucial part had been missing from a set of points near the site of the accident.

Officials from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch have been concentrating on the points, just south of where the Glasgow-bound train jumped the tracks on Friday evening.

''Investigation of the lock and stretcher bars in the facing points at Lambrigg crossover showed that one of three stretcher bars was missing, and bolts that secured the lock bar and another stretcher bar were not in place,'' a preliminary report into the crash said.

The stretcher bars are bolted across the moving rails, keeping them a fixed distance apart from each other.

An elderly woman was killed and several other passengers seriously injured after the Virgin Pendolino tilting train derailed at 95 mph in a remote country area, scattering carriages down a steep embankment.

REUTERS SAM RK2140