Network Rail faces prosecution
Friday 13 January 2012
Printable
EmailThe Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said today that Network Rail (NR) is to be prosecuted over the 2007 Grayrigg train crash in Cumbria in which one passenger died.
The ORR said it had started criminal proceedings against NR for a breach of health and safety law that caused a Virgin Trains Pendolino train to derail near Grayrigg on February 23, 2007.
Passenger Margaret Masson was killed and 86 people were injured, 28 seriously.
Earlier investigations as well as last year’s inquest into the death of Ms Masson concluded that the derailment was caused by a poorly maintained set of points.
Rail union RMT leader Bob Crow said: “This prosecution does not let the ORR off the hook for their role as the driver of the cuts that are still ongoing and RMT repeats its call for an urgent public inquiry that establishes all the facts and which looks at the whole culture of penny pinching and short staffing that is prevalent on the railways.’’
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