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GRAYRIGG, England - A defective track may have caused a highspeed train crash in northern England in which an elderly woman was killed and five other people were seriously injured, according to investigators and the train company boss.
The state-of-the-art Virgin Pendolino tilting train, heading from London to Glasgow, derailed at 150km/h yesterday evening in a remote area of Cumbria, scattering carriages down the side of a steep embankment.
Rail accident investigator Thomas Edwards said the inquiry would concentrate on a set of points.
"I've been told the line was defective," Richard Branson, the chairman of Virgin Group, told reporters. "I've been told that it was the points that failed."
Branson praised the train's driver and emergency workers who battled difficult conditions, including torrential rain, to reach around 100 passengers, some of whom were trapped in the overturned carriages.
Police named the dead woman as 84-year-old Margaret Masson, from Glasgow. A total of 22 people were hurt, of which five remain in hospital with back, leg and head injuries.
Police said it was "little short of a miracle" there had not been more deaths.
"We are amazed that we didn't have fatalities actually at the time. We've been very, very fortunate," said Chief Superintendent Martyn Ripley of British Transport Police.
Track operator Network Rail said there was a possibility something had occurred for which it was responsible.
"Having a set of points immediately prior to an accident always makes those points very suspect, and given the information we have ... that's the focus of attention," said John Armitt, Network Rail chief executive.
Police had earlier said routine maintenance work had been carried out on the track during the previous week.
In 2002, seven passengers died in a derailment at Potters Bar, north of London, while two years earlier four people were killed in a derailment at Hatfield near London.
The worst accident to occur in recent years happened in 1999 when two trains collided near the capital's Paddington station, killing 31.
Bob Crowe, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, said the latest accident demonstrated that still not enough had been done to upgrade Britain's train lines.
"I don't see nuts and bolts falling off 747 jets...isn't it about time we had some decent nuts and bolts on the railways?" he told BBC news.
Branson, who broke off a family skiing holiday in Switzerland to return to Britain to visit the crash site and the injured, said rail travel remained the safest form of transport.
"If it turns out to be a Network Rail track issue then they simply have to learn from this and to make sure that it never happens again," he said.
Rail experts said safety features of the Pendolinos had prevented the accident from causing far more casualties that would have occurred with older trains.
Virgin said there was no question of withdrawing the Pendolinos from service.
The Pendolino (Italian for "tilting") was developed in Italy by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was bought by French firm Alstom in 2000. Virgin uses Pendolinos on its mainline routes.
Virgin Trains is 49 per cent-owned by British bus and train operator Stagecoach Group Plc and 51 per cent by Virgin Group.
- REUTERS
