Railtrack, the company responsible for rail maintenance, yesterday admitted the condition of the track where the Hatfield derailment occurred was "not good" as board members met to consider whether to accept the resignation of their chief executive, Mr Gerald Corbett.
As several Railtrack board members flew to London to attend a crisis meeting last night the Transport Minister, Lord Macdonald, indicated that he was more concerned with "effective and authoritative leadership" at Railtrack than with offers of resignation. However, some rail industry bosses said if Mr Corbett's resignation was accepted it would be counter-productive and would not improve safety on the railways.
Mr Corbett, who faced fierce criticism after the Paddington rail crash a year ago when it emerged that trains regularly passed through red signals, tendered his resignation yesterday saying he was "personally distraught" that another tragedy had occurred. Four people were killed and more than 30 people injured when the 12.10 p.m. Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) London King's Cross to Leeds service was derailed 15 minutes into its journey near Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, on Tuesday.
The cause of the derailment is still being investigated, but Railtrack yesterday confirmed the condition of track, which was five years old, was "not good" and that a piece of broken track was at the centre of the inquiry. A decision was taken in January to replace the stretch of track on which the incident happened. It was levelled in September to prevent rail breaks and visually inspected a week before the derailment but it was not due to be replaced until November.
Railtrack said its investigation would also consider the quality of maintenance procedures but it could not say whether the broken track was the cause of the incident or a result of the derailment. Railtrack is facing an independent examination of its failure to significantly reduce the number of broken rails on its lines after the Rail Inspectorate, Mr Tom Winsor, warned the company that it could be in breach of its licence because of a large rise in the number of broken rails.
At the scene of Tuesday's disaster, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Rail Inspectorate and Transport Police officials examined the shattered wreckage of the GNER train. Assistant Chief Constable of the Transport Police, Mr Paul Nicholas, said the initial investigation had failed to find any evidence of vandalism. Mr Stan Hart, principal inspector of railways for the HSE said he hoped that by the end of the week inspectors would be able to provide some public indication of their initial findings. "Principally at the moment we are concentrating on the state of the track and the state of the vehicle," he said.
The Railtrack board meeting broke up last night after more than five hours but directors refused to say if Mr Corbett's resignation had been accepted.