UK Potters Bar crash: Network Rail fined £3m

[John Ashworth]

BBC 13 May 2011 Last updated at 15:45

Potters Bar crash: Network Rail fined £3m

Network Rail has been fined £3m for safety failings over the Potters Bar train crash, which killed seven people.

The rail infrastructure company had admitted breaching safety regulations over the accident in May 2002.

Faulty points were to blame for the crash, in which a London to King's Lynn service operated by WAGN derailed near Potters Bar station, in Hertfordshire.

After the hearing, Network Rail, whose fine effectively comes from the public purse, said it was "truly sorry".

Six passengers and a pedestrian walking near the station were killed when the train derailed.

'Sense of justice'

Overall responsibility for the track at the time lay with Network Rail's predecessor, Railtrack.

Railtrack was in administration at the time of the crash and had not yet been taken over by Network Rail, but due to Railtrack's role in operating the country's rail infrastructure, it had been allowed to continue trading.

Last year, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) launched proceedings against maintenance firm Jarvis and Network Rail under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Both companies were accused of failings over the installation, maintenance and inspection of adjustable stretcher bars, which keep the moveable section of track points at the correct width for train wheels.

Director of rail safety at ORR, Ian Prosser, said: "Today marks the end of a long process in which we have sought to gain a sense of justice for the families of the victims of the Potters Bar derailment.

"It is welcome that Network Rail, as the successor to Railtrack, pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches, demonstrating that, under its new management, it is now an organisation willing to take responsibility and learn from past mistakes."

Network Rail spokesman PJ Taylor said: "We recognise with many that the sorrow remains and we should all pause and reflect as we remember those who lost their lives.

"Network Rail has today been sentenced for failings that contributed to this accident and we accept the fine as we accept the liabilities inherited from Railtrack. We say again today, that we are truly sorry."

Judge Bright, presiding at St Albans Crown Court, said Railtrack's procedures and standards were "seriously inadequate" and that the serious faults with the points "could and should have been identified sooner".

The company's failures had put the travelling public and train crews at the risk of serious injury, the judge said.

Considering how far within Railtrack the failings went, Judge Bright said that although there were very serious failings by Jarvis, "overall responsibility for the breach of duty lay with Railtrack at senior management level and their failures were significant and extensive".

The judge said there were individuals who bore responsibility for the maintenance failures which led to the tragedy.

He added: "I do not doubt that those who lost loved ones in the crash might have hoped to see those individuals held to account for their failure.

"However, they are not before the court and it's Network Rail Infrastructure who fall to be sentenced for an offence committed by Railtrack plc."

Railtrack finally collapsed in October 2001 after the then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers opted to put the firm into administration rather than give it more taxpayers' money to fund urgently needed track upgrades.

The government said Railtrack was not capable of running the railways and was insolvent without government support. Network Rail was set up as a not-for-profit organisation to take over Railtrack's responsibilities.

Network Rail has no shareholders and its debt is guaranteed by the government.

Speaking after the court case, Perdita Kark, the daughter of Austen Kark who was one of the victims, said: "It's offensive that I pay a fine for something that killed my father.

"Directors of the two companies should have been in the dock as individuals and they should have paid out of their own purses."

'Safety not profit'

Ms Kark - whose mother, author Nina Bawden, now 86, was badly injured in the crash - added: "This fine is going to be paid by the taxpayer and will mean there is less money to be spent on the rail network.

"The crash has made my mother's old age desperately difficult."

Patricia Smith, whose mother Agnes Quinlivan died in the crash, said they had waited nine years to hear an apology from Network Rail.

"We knew any fine would come out of public funds, so we weren't really looking for a big fine. What we've always been hoping for is an acknowledgement that they got it wrong and they're putting it right," she said.

"Safety first rather than profit and bonuses first which is what they've done in the past."

All the passengers who were killed were in the train's fourth carriage which left the tracks after derailing and ended up wedged under the canopy of Potters Bar station.

Network Rail

* Network Rail bought Railtrack - the private-sector owner of Britain's railway infrastructure - in October 2002
* Railtrack had gone into administration in October 2001 after the government withdrew its funding in the aftermath of the Hatfield train crash in 2000
* Due to Railtrack's role in operating the country's rail infrastructure, it was allowed to continue trading despite being in administration, until Network Rail took over
* Network Rail now owns Britain's rail infrastructure, including tracks, signals, most stations, tunnels and level crossings. It does not run any trains
* Railtrack was a private company with shareholders to whom it paid dividends, Network Rail is a "not-for-dividend" company, which means all profits are invested in the railway network
* It makes most of its money from charging the rail operating companies for track access. It also receives funding from the Department for Transport and local authorities and is allowed to borrow money by issuing bonds