Railway Inspectorate's action on Paddington

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985

8 October 1999


Prescott underlines railway inspectorate's action on Paddington

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott today welcomed the Railway Inspectorate's interim report on the Paddington rail crash and the speed with which it has been produced.

The Inspectorate announced this afternoon a number of immediate steps which are being taken in the light of the accident.

Mr Prescott said:

 "Safety on the railway is paramount.  The appalling accident on Tuesday has shaken public confidence.  I welcome the immediate steps which the Inspectorate has taken to address the most obvious lessons of Paddington.  They have complied with my request to produce this interim report as quickly as possible.

"In addition I have today asked the Health and Safety Executive to report to me each week on the number of signals passed at danger.  I want to see the number coming rapidly down, not least at the 22 signals with the worst safety record.  I have asked the HSE to make the details of these sites available.  I have also asked the HSE to report to me in a week's time on Railtrack's proposals for options for strengthening safety on the approaches to Paddington."

NOTES TO EDITORS

The Railway Inspectorate is taking the following early action to address the problems identified so far:

" Great Western Trains has been asked for and has given, a commitment to do everything possible to keep ATP equipment in full  functional order on Great Western high speed trains.
" All train operating companies will receive letters tomorrow telling them to re-brief all their drivers on "signals passed at danger", and ways of avoiding them.
" The Inspectorate also plans to issue three enforcement notices on Railtrack.  These will require additional controls at the 22 signals with the worst record of being passed at danger, a plan to reduce the risk of all remaining signals with a recent history of being passed at danger, and a notice prohibiting the use of the signals which was passed on Tuesday's disaster.