Railtrack could face charges over Paddington crash

Railtrack managers could yet face manslaughter charges over the Paddington rail disaster after police were yesterday ordered to undertake fresh inquiries.

The new investigation by British Transport Police into the 1999 crash follows legal advice to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from Professor Celia Wells of Cardiff Law School.

Police will make inquiries into the management of the track and signal layout near the west London station on the advice of Professor Wells, who was asked to re-examine the case after pressure from bereaved families.

Louise Christian, a solicitor representing some of the bereaved, gave the news a cautious welcome, but registered her concern that the police might be hampered by the immunity granted to evidence presented to Lord Cullen's inquiry into the tragedy.

Ms Christian, who had threatened the CPS with a judicial review over its decision not to prosecute, said she was pleased the CPS had recognised that it had got the law on corporate manslaughter wrong.

Lord Cullen's report made it clear that the driver of a Thames Trains commuter service who passed a red light on his way out of Paddington was not the primary cause of the catastrophic collision with a Great Western express. Senior management, however, were guilty of "lamentable failure" and "dangerous complacency".

Lord Cullen added that it was "plain that the quality of signal sighting, on which vital decisions may turn, depends not only on the visibility but also the readability of those signals".

Initial analysis by the CPS, published last October, found there was no "causal link" between "procedural defects" and the disaster in which 31 people lost their lives.

Following the report by Professor Wells, the CPS has asked the police to see if such a link can be established.

A Railtrack spokesman said: "We will co-operate fully with British Transport Police's inquiries."

* Jarvis Rail, the maintenance company at the heart of the Potter's Bar disaster, has been shortlisted for what is believed to be the largest construction project ever conducted by Railtrack, according to the magazine Construction News. The track renewal schemes are valued at £700m a year over five years.