On This Day: 8 October 1952

At least 85 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in the country’s worst peacetime rail crash.

The accident happened at 0820 GMT at Harrow, a north-west suburb of London.

A London-bound express train from Perth ploughed into the back of the 0731 Tring-Euston commuter train as it was about to leave Harrow and Wealdstone station, on the London Midland region line.

Seconds later, a third train coming from Euston crashed into the wreckage.

Survivors described hearing a deafening sound like an explosion and then broken glass and debris flying everywhere.

John Bannister of Harrow was in the local train in a coach just under the footbridge at the time of the accident. He told The Times newspaper: “It all happened in a second. There was a terrible crash and glass and debris showered on me.”

He added: “I blacked out for a moment and when I came round I found I was lying on the line with debris on top of me. I managed to free myself and drag myself on to the platform.”

Harrow & Wealdstone Station

There were about 1,000 passengers aboard all three trains, with most causalities at the rear end of the Tring commuter train and the front coaches of the two express trains.

Some of the victims were on the platform as carriages full of commuters were hurled onto them. Others were killed on a footbridge over the track that was punctured by a pile of coaches 30-foot (9 metres) high.

Residents help rescuers

Rescue workers are battling to free survivors still trapped in carriages at the bottom of the pile-up.

Firefighters and police have been joined by railway workers and local residents.

The middle section of the footbridge has been cut away to free up the front two coaches of the local train which seem relatively undamaged. Other coaches have been cut through to bring out survivors and the dead.

Police officers occasionally shouted or blew their whistles for silence to listen for any signs of survivors in the wreckage.

The Queen and the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, have sent messages of sympathy to the victims and the bereaved.

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 but because of its role in operating the country’s rail infrastructure, it was allowed to continue trading until Network Rail took over in October 2002.

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.

7 people died as a result of the derailment at Potters Bar

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.

However, the prosecution against Jarvis was dropped in March as its rail maintenance arm is now in administration.

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 went into administration in October 2001 after the then Transport Secretary Stephen Byers decided not to 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.