Grieving relatives visit rail crash scene
Grieving relatives are at Potter’s Bar railway station as Transport Secretary Stephen Byers disclosed that vandalism and individual error were still among the possible causes of Friday’s rail disaster.
Twenty-four relatives of 80-year-old victim Agnes Quinlivan made an emotional tour of the grim crash scene this morning before laying flowers in her memory.
Church stalwart Mrs Quinlivan, who lived in Potter’s Bar for 65 years, was among the seven people killed when the high speed WAGN train left the track just before 1pm on Friday.
Railtrack officials have confirmed that nuts were missing from key bolts on the points, which put extra pressure on a stretcher bar, which fractured, derailing the fourth carriage and sending it hurtling on to platforms at the station platform.
An investigation is now under way to discover how the nuts came free of the bolts.
Mr Byers said mismanagement, individual error and vandalism were all still possible causes, but described the accident as ‘‘one-off’’.
‘‘I think the first thing to do is to find out exactly how this happened, so that we know the circumstances in detail, and then we will be able to find out whether or not it was mismanagement, whether it was the fault of an individual worker not carrying out their job properly, whether it was a deliberate act of vandalism,’’ he told the BBC1 Breakfast with Frost programme.
‘‘We don’t know answers to those questions yet but the HSE, the Inspectorate, were very clear that through detailed examination they would be able to find out exactly how this happened.’’
He added: ‘‘It does appear to be a one-off, isolated incident affecting this set of points 200 yards to the south of Potters Bar station.’’
Mr Byers said he would await the results of the investigation before deciding whether a public inquiry was necessary.
Railtrack chief executive John Armitt, asked on the same programme whether there could be a case for corporate manslaughter, and whether Railtrack or the Government could face that accusation, said: ‘‘I don’t think you can discount the possibility of that in any situation where there has been such a terrible accident and loss of life.’’
Meanwhile relatives of the seven deceased were today still coming to terms with the tragedy.
Taiwan’s TVBS cable news network confirmed two of the dead as broadcast journalist Wu Chia-ching, 32, and former employee Lin Chia-hsin, 29, who had left the company to live in London with her boyfriend.
Hertfordshire Police confirmed the other five people who died as Austen Kark, 75, of Islington, north London; Agnes Quinlivan, 80, of Potters Bar; Jonael Schickler, 25, of East Sussex; Emma Knights, 29, from Cambridgeshire; and Alexander Ogonwusi, 42, of south west London.
Another 10 people, two of whom are critically ill, remain in hospital.
