Tube crash report points to 'incompetent managers'

London Underground played down revelations made public yesterday of highly dangerous practices that could have led to the Chancery Lane Tube crash.

Officials said there was "nothing revelatory" in the second interim report into the derailment on the Central Line. But the 50-page document detailed management incompetence and serious gaps in maintenance procedures.

While manufacturers of the gearbox involved in the accident recommend it should be overhauled every four and half years, investigators discovered that it had never been inspected even though it had been in service for about 10 years.

The box was extensively damaged, gear teeth were "completely worn", the inspection cover was missing and there was a hole in the bottom of the casing. Similar failures were found in other accidents where motors broke free from trains – the immediate cause of the Chancery Lane derailment.

The report compiled by London Underground into the accident on 25 January in which 32 passengers were hurt, also stated that if "competent" advice had been available it was likely the train would have been taken out of service. "Non-competent personnel should not be used to assess rolling stock defects," the report said.

The investigators said there was a lack of clarity over the role of the duty engineer. The analysis said that controllers were motivated by a desire not to delay trains more than necessary. "If the train had been taken out of service at reduced speed it is possible that the accident might not have happened, or if it had, it might not have been so severe."

The report said "unusual noises" were heard coming from the train earlier on its journey. The driver of the following train had also reported "dusty and murky" conditions.

A decision was taken to remove the train from service at Holborn, but the train derailed on entering Chancery Lane, the stop immediately before.

Tube employees said that some of the agency staff, making checks on bolts holding the motor to the train, had not been formally trained. Tools supplied to do the work did not fit over the bolts, they said.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT rail union, pointed out that the report also showed that management had known there were gearbox problems with Central Line trains since the early 1990s.

Mr Crow argued that part-privatisation was the root cause of the derailment. Mr Crow said that in preparation for the public-private partnership over the past four years, the chain of command had been systematically dismantled. There was "constant bickering" between the state-owned London Underground, which continues to run the trains, and the private- sector "infracos" that won 30-year leases to maintain the infrastructure, he said.

Management said Central Line services would be running to all destinations today, although not as frequently as normal. London Underground said the timetable on the route, used by 650,000 passengers a day, would be fully restored by the end of the month.

Tube management denied there was any attempt to cover up the contents of the report. "We put it on our website so that everyone could see it," a spokeswoman said.

A separate report from the Health and Safety Executive would be published, she said, adding that London Underground investigators were disclosing the facts as they were discovered.