Lord Adonis said yesterday that he had decided that the two separate inquests would ensure the lessons of the two incidents were learnt and would be as effective as a public inquiry.

Both the Potters Bar crash, in which seven people were killed on May 10, 2002, and Grayrigg, in which one person died on February 23, 2007, involved trains derailing at high speed after hitting faulty sets of points.

The coroner in the Potters Bar inquest adjourned the case shortly after the Grayrigg crash, saying it might produce fresh evidence for Potters Bar and lead the transport secretary to reconsider his previous rejection of a public inquiry. Lord Adonis's decision drew criticism from several quarters, including the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union.

"Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union, said: "It's scandalous that it's taken years of campaigning to get a confirmation of full inquests...... and the RMT will be holding the government to their word and demanding that they fix the earliest possible date for the inquests to begin. We have consistently called for a joint public inquiry into Potters Bar and Grayrigg which includes an examination of the safety impact of the privatisation and fragmentation of the rail industry."

See also:

Anger at rail inquests decision

BBC News: 19 June 2009

A woman was killed when a Pendolino derailed at at Grayrigg, Cumbria

Families whose relatives were killed or injured in the Potters Bar and Grayrigg rail crashes say holding separate inquests is "intensely disappointing".

The government has ruled out holding a joint public inquiry into the crashes.

Seven people died and more than 70 were injured at Potters Bar in 2002. One woman was killed and 82 hurt at Grayrigg in 2007.

Lawyer Louise Christian said victims had been "ignored" and the government ruling may be taken to judicial review.

Relatives of the victims had been calling for joint public inquiry.

Ms Christian said the the "very long delay of two-and-a-half years by the government in making this decision has also contributed to the victims' suspicions that the government has never intended to take them seriously".

It's scandalous that it's taken years of campaigning to get a confirmation of full inquests" - Bob Crow, RMT general secretary

The Department for Transport (DfT) said the Secretary of State Lord Adonis had decided "that two independent inquests will ensure complete public scrutiny of the Potters Bar and Grayrigg accidents".

The DfT said he believed the two inquests "will ensure that lessons are learned and acted upon and as such are as effective as a public inquiry".

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union, said: "It's scandalous that it's taken years of campaigning to get a confirmation of full inquests... and the RMT will be holding the government to their word and demanding that they fix the earliest possible date for the inquests to begin.

"We have consistently called for a joint public inquiry into Potters Bar and Grayrigg which includes an examination of the safety impact of the privatisation and fragmentation of the rail industry."

Points failure

The Potters Bar accident happened when a West Anglia Great Northern train travelling from London to King's Lynn in Norfolk was derailed as it went over faulty points.

Six passengers died and a pedestrian was killed when debris fell on to the road beneath the track.

An accident report by the Health and Safety Executive in May 2003 blamed poor maintenance for the points failure, with earlier inspections not spotting defects in the points.

In October 2005, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had advised British Transport Police that there was no realistic prospect of conviction for an offence of gross negligence manslaughter against any individual or corporation.

An initial report by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) in the Grayrigg crash blamed a faulty set of points.

A later inquiry by Network Rail, released in September last year, found systematic failures in track patrolling and management.

BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said the hearings will be "Middleton" inquests.

This type of hearing investigates the broader circumstances of a death or deaths, as well as the immediate causes.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "The tragedy at Grayrigg was caused by the failure of our infrastructure, something we were devastated to discover.

"Following a comprehensive and detailed industry investigation we made immediate changes to our maintenance regime.

"Today's announcement about Grayrigg and the earlier incident at Potters Bar - which occurred when Railtrack was responsible for the infrastructure - will hopefully give greater reassurance to everyone involved that lessons have been learned and changes made."

See also:

Adonis: No public inquiry for Grayrigg or Potters Bar rail disasters

New Civil Engineer: 19 June, 2009
By Alexandra Wynne, Mark Hansford

Transport secretary Lord Adonis today rejected calls for a public inquiry into the rail accidents at Grayrigg and Potters Bar, that both resulted in deaths of passengers.

The RMT rail union said the news was a “scandal”.

Adonis told the House of Commons that coroner inquests would allow “appropriate further investigations of the accidents”, negating the need for public investigation.

“I would like to inform the House that following careful consideration, including those representations made by affected parties, I have decided that the public interest is best served by the continuation of the two inquests that have begun into the deaths resulting from the rail accidents at Potters Bar and at Grayrigg. I have therefore decided not to convene a public inquiry into the accidents, either individually or jointly,” Adonis said.

He added that he was satisfied that the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) investigation into the Grayrigg accident was “thorough” but would make further funds available to the Coroner for South and East Cumbria for further investigation work if required.

The Potters Bar accident will be the subject of an “enhanced inquest”.

Adonis added: “In October 2008, the rail safety regulator Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) assured the then secretary of state that no further immediate actions to ensure the safety of passengers and staff were necessary as a result of RAIB’s final report into Grayrigg, beyond those that had already been taken.”

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said the decision was a scandal.

“The RMT has consistently called for a full public inquiry into Potters Bar and Grayrigg that looks at all the issues surrounding these disasters including the role played by the privatisation and fragmentation of the rail network.
The inquest announcement is welcome but is not an alternative to a full public inquiry and it’s a scandal that the government have specifically ruled that out.”

“RMT has also warned repeatedly that the decision by Network Rail to defer nearly a third of its track renewals as it seeks to hit financial targets creates the conditions for another serious derailment. There is a real danger of another Hatfield, Potters Bar or Grayrigg and the Government should intervene to reinstate the full renewals programme before we have another disaster on our hands, he said.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa Villiers said the decision was “unacceptable”.

“This is a real blow for the families of those who died in these terrible crashes. It is unacceptable for the Government to have left those campaigning tirelessly for a Potters Bar inquiry hanging on for seven years. The delay has only served to increase the distress to those who were injured or lost loved ones as a result of the crash.”

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch investigation into the Grayrigg crash which killed one and injured 22 on 23 February 2007 blamed Network Rail’s failure to correctly set up points and carry out a track inspection.

The findings concluded that the immediate cause of the derailment, which caused the death of passenger Margaret Masson, was the deterioration of Lambrigg 2B points through a combination of failures of three stretcher bars, the lock stretcher bar, and their fastenings.

It went on to say three factors – the mechanical failure of a bolted joint, the incorrect set up of the points and a track inspection that was missed five days before the accident – were to blame for causing these unsafe conditions.

Points failure caused by poor maintenance was also to blame for the May 2002 Potters Bar disaster, where seven were killed and another 70 injured.

The Health & Safety Executive led the investigation into the crash and published a report into its findings in May 2003.

The report concluded that there were gaps in the maintenance schedule for this set of points and that the main nut, lock nut and insulating bush were absent from the right-hand end of the rear stretcher bar that failed.