Checks stopped near rail crash site

A track inspector walked off the railway a short distance from where he would have discovered critical track failures on February 18 this year, Network Rail said.

Five days later, a high-speed Virgin Pendolino train came off the rails in Grayrigg, Cumbria, leaving one woman dead and 22 injured.

In a highly critical report into its own systems of inspection and management, Network Rail revealed loose bolts were found on the Lambrigg 2B points more than six weeks before the crash.

They were replaced, but the cause of the problem was never investigated.

In later weeks, trains passing over the points dislodged the bolts again and caused the stretcher bars separating two sets of track to come under pressure.

As a result, the train smashed into the points at 95mph, throwing it from the track. After the crash, one stretcher was found broken and another strewn further down the track.

Network Rail group infrastructure director Peter Henderson said he did not know why the February 18 check had not been completed.

He said the inspector started at the right place, "but he came off at an access point just before Lambrigg 2B. "He was not told to finish early. It appears it was his decision."

Chief executive Iain Coucher admitted the supervision of the inspection had also been at fault. He also repeated his apology for the crash and said the company was "devastated by the events of that evening".