Killed and injured on the altar of dogma!

Yesterday in Britain's Lake District a train came off the rails at high speed and the coaches tumbled down an embankment. One elderly lady was killed and five people lie seriously injured in hospital. Experts suggest that the bolts on a portion of track were loose. It is the latest in a pattern of train accidents since the mid 90s to which some aspect of poor maintenance or lack of investment can be attributed.

In 1999 at Ladbroke Grove, 31 people were killed when two trains collided because of a signal failure. In 2000 four people were killed and 35 injured at Hatfield when a train was derailed because of a broken rail. In 2002 at Potters Bar, 7 people were killed and 70 injured as a result of a derailment caused by faultily maintained points.



Points and track not checked and maintained properly, under investment in signalling equipment and a complete failure to implement ATP (Automatic Train Protection) because of the expense.

Why? Well in my opinion it goes back to the decision of John Major's Conservative Government in 1992 to privatise Britain's railways. The way it was done was so crass that we have been living with the consequences ever since. There were voices that said 'if you must privatise then simply take British Rail en bloc out of state hands and make it a private company'.

However the wise(?) heads in the Tory government decided not to do that and instead they created a whole new set of structures. One plc called Railtrack would administer the track and equipment while other companies would be created to run competitive train services on that track. Furthermore if the train companies were unable to meet their timetable due to track problems they could sue claim compensation to the tune of £'000 from Railtrack.

So here you have a bunch of profit oriented rail operators and a company responsible for the track which was under capitalised from the start and which from its birth faced the nightmare of track maintenance and keeping the train operators happy with little financial reward and a lot of liability. So what happens? Short cuts are taken, Routine servicing is cut back, outside suppliers are used on a cheapest tender basis. All this when you are responsible for peoples lives.

The hideous consequences of Conservative dogma have now come home to roost in a series of appalling crashes and the accusation hanging over all of them is carelessness and neglect. The Labour Government has already fired Railtrack and set up Network Rail, but it is only tinkering with the periphery of the problem. British Rail needs to be re created and supported out of taxation as it always used to be - very successfully, before Conservative dogma created the lunacy we have today.