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Great Western Trains Railtrack Health & Safety Executive
Southall Inquiry Re-opens 20 Sep 99
Seven days . . . . . . web focus on rail safety and accidents in the last week |
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Death toll rises to 26 Dead in Paddington Tragedy: Tuesday, October 05, 1999Twenty-six people are now known to have died in the accident at Ladbroke Grove near Paddinton this
The accident occurred at 08:11 when a Great Western Inter City 125 express train and a Thames Trains commuter train collided on a rail crossover. More than 160 people have been admitted to hospital with injuries sustained in the collision, many of them serious. Their injuries include burns sustained in a fire which broke out amongst the wreckage as wellas fractures and crush injuries. The cause of the accident is not yet known. John Prescott, the deputy prime minister announced that a public inquiry will be held. An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the British Transport Police into the cause of the train has begun. Black box recorders have been recovered which contain data about the trains' performance. These will give some indication of what was happenning to the trains during the moments leading up to the impact. The investigators will also wish to examine the signalling system to determine if there was a signal failure. The death toll is the highest for a British rail accident since an accident at Clapham in 1988. A public inquiry is currently being conducted by the Health & Safety Executive into an accident involving another GWT IC125 which occurred two years ago at southall which is on the same stretch of line.
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This file last updated: Tuesday, 05-Oct-1999 19:15:25 EDT