Fatal UK rail crash followed flawed patrol -report

LONDON, Sep 4 (Reuters) A local track inspector cut short his patrol and failed to check damaged points which derailed a high-speed London to Glasgow express in February, UK infrastructure firm Network Rail said today.

The crash at Grayrigg in northern England killed an elderly woman passenger and injured five others.

Chief Executive Iain Coucher said there had been a breakdown in the relationship between track patrollers and their supervisors in the area.

''There was some animosity there between people,'' said infrastructure director Peter Henderson. ''It was at a personal level in a number of respects.'' The state-of-the-art Virgin Pendolino tilting train from London to Glasgow jumped the rail at 94 mph on February 23, scattering carriages down the side of a steep embankment.

An inspection on February 18 ended short of the points that caused the crash. Two of the four spacer bars on the points were broken and the other two were missing, Network Rail said in its report into the accident.

''The rear set of wheels of the first carriage and the front set of wheels of the second carriage struck the tip of the now loose rail, derailed and led the other carriages into derailment,'' it added.

Network rail said all 120 sets of points in Britain similar to those at Grayrigg would have their stretcher bars replaced by the end of October.

The Grayrigg incident brought back memories of a derailment at Potters Bar north of London in May 2002, which also occurred at a set of points and killed seven passengers.

But Network Rail said the underlying cause of Grayrigg was different to that of Potters Bar, which is still being investigated by police.

The worst UK rail accident to occur in recent years happened in 1999 when two trains collided near the capital's Paddington station, killing 31.

''The patroller finished shorter than he should,'' said Coucher, referring to the Grayrigg incident. ''We don't know why he finished short,'' he added, but declined to give further details to avoid prejudicing an investigation by the British Transport Police.

''The underlying causes were deficiencies in the supervision and assurance regime in the Lancashire and Cumbria area, which resulted in the deterioration not being picked up,'' said Coucher.

REUTERS RS KP2325