There have been at least three railway accidents in Potters Bar, a town in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, just north of Greater London. One occurred in 1898, one in 1946 and the last in 2002.
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On 19 March 1898, the 7:50 p.m train from Hatfield to King's Cross ran past the signals at danger when it reached Potters Bar. The train cut through the catch points and buffers and crashed onto the platform. The front part of the engine was smashed and the leading coach wrecked. No one was killed. The driver, fireman and guard narrowly escaped injury. Some passengers complained of being shaken but were able to go home. [1][2]
On 10 February 1946, a local passenger train travelling towards Kings Cross hit a set of buffers at Potters Bar station and the derailed carriages fouled the main line. Two express trains travelling in opposite directions then hit the wreckage. Two passengers were killed and the 17 injured were taken to hospital. The driver of the local train was eventually held to blame but a signalman was found to have contributed to the accident by changing a set of points as the train passed over them.[2][3]
| Potters Bar rail crash (2002) | |
|---|---|
| Details | |
| Date | 10 May 2002 |
| Time | 12:58 BST |
| Location | Potters Bar, Hertfordshire |
| Country | England |
| Rail line | East Coast Main Line |
| Cause | Condition of points |
| Statistics | |
| Trains | 1 |
| Passengers | 151 |
| Deaths | 7 |
| Injuries | 76 |
| List of UK rail accidents by year | |
On 10 May 2002, a railway accident occurred when a northbound train derailed at high speed, killing seven and injuring 76.[4] Part of the train ended up wedged between the station platforms and building structures.
A West Anglia Great Northern train service left King's Cross station at 12:45 bound for King's Lynn in Norfolk, via Cambridge. At 12:55, travelling at 97 mph, the four-car Class 365 electric multiple unit (unit number: 365526) crossed over a set of points '2182A' just south of Potters Bar railway station. As the rear coach travelled over the points, they moved,[5] causing the rear bogie of the carriage to cross onto the adjacent line and ultimately derail, flipping it into the air. The momentum carried the carriage into the station, where one end of the carriage struck a bridge parapet, sending debris onto the road below. It then mounted and slid along the platform before coming to rest under the platform canopy at 45 degrees. The front three coaches remained upright, and came to a stop to the north of the station.
Six of the victims were travelling on board the train, while a seventh, Agnes Quinlivan, was killed by masonry falling from the bridge over Darkes Lane.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report released in May 2003 found that the points were poorly maintained and that this was the principal cause of the accident.[6] The bolts that held the stretcher bars that keep the rails apart had come loose or gone missing, resulting in the points moving while the train passed over them. The points had been fully inspected on 1 May by a team working for the private railway maintenance firm Jarvis and there had been a further visual inspection on 9 May the day before the crash, with no problems reported. However, that evening, a rail worker was travelling on the line northbound and reported "lethal vibrations" on the track at Potters Bar whilst going over that same point on the track, point '2182A'. Jarvis employees did make an inspection of the points but, due to an inadequate incident reporting system, they were sent to the wrong end of the platform to check the track and points and did not find the 'loose nuts' that subsequently led to the accident.
Initially after the accident, Jarvis claimed that the points' poor condition was due to sabotage of some sort,[7] and that its maintenance was not to blame. However, no solid evidence of any sabotage has ever come to light. Furthermore, the HSE report found that other sets of points in the Potters Bar area showed similar (but not as serious) maintenance deficiencies and the poor state of maintenance "probably arose from a failure to understand fully the design and safety requirements".
Further investigations by the HSE found that heavy and constant vibrations on the stretcher bars and their bolts caused them in turn to vibrate and oscillate until their nuts literally fell off the bolts. These have since been replaced by two-part locking nuts instead of the main nuts having half-size locking nuts to hold them in place.
In November 2010, the Office of Rail Regulation said Network Rail and Jarvis Rail will be charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The case should take place at Watford Magistrates' Court in January 2011.[8]
The tragedy sparked a debate about whether private maintenance firms were paying too little attention to training and safety. In 2003, Network Rail announced it was taking all track maintenance in-house, ending the use of private contractors except for large-scale renewal or development projects.[9]
On 28 April 2004, Jarvis sent a letter to the victims' families, admitting liability for the accident. The company said that it would formally accept "legally justified claims" after making a financial provision of £3,000,000.[10]
In the letter Kevin Hyde, chief executive, wrote:
"In the aftermath of the crash, when Jarvis was under great pressure to explain itself, we were drawn into a debate about the possible causes of the crash. On behalf of the company and my colleagues, I would like to apologise for the hurt and anger our actions in responding caused."
A circular memorial plate was erected on platform 3 of the station, dedicated to the 7 fatalities of the Potters Bar crash.
On 13 May 2011, Network Rail was fined £3 million for safety failings related to the crash.[11]
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