Report blames points for rail crash

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Failures of parts of the points allowed one of the rails to move into an unsafe position, a progress report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) said.

One elderly woman passenger was killed and 89 people were injured when the points failure led to a Virgin tilting Pendolino train to derail at Lambrigg, near Grayrigg on the night of February 23.

Wednesday's report from the RAIB deals with much of the ground already covered in a joint Network Rail/Virgin Trains report into the accident published last month.

The RAIB said it had not yet fully concluded "the causal and contributory factors of the derailment" and added that it hoped to publish another report in the early part of 2008.

The RAIB said that its final report would make recommendations to improve safety.

Wednesday's report said that points in question - 2B points - had come to be in an unsafe condition through a combination of failures of the three stretcher bars and the lock stretcher bar and their fastenings.

The RAIB said after the accident Network Rail (NR) had carried out extensive checks of points on the system. Some faults were found and in six cases NR imposed speed restrictions.

The RAIB said that at least 105 passengers and four crew had been on board the London to Glasgow train.

In addition to the death of an 84-year-old woman, there were 28 passengers, the driver and one other crew member who were seriously injured and 59 passengers who received minor injuries.