The TSSA general secretary called for action by the Attorney General after it was revealed Network Rail failed to disclose a ‘damning’ safety report on the Elsenham level crossing where Olivia Bazlinton, 14, and Charlie Thompson, 13, were killed by an express train in December 2005.
They died when they went through unlocked pedestrian gates while on a Christmas shopping trip. But the report, written in 2001 and ‘not acted upon’, said the crossing was so dangerous that a footbridge should be built over it or a subway underneath it.
It was not disclosed by Network Rail to the families or the Essex Coroner at the inquest in 2007 which reached a verdict that the girls died accidentally.
“This report, and another report in 2002 calling for the gates to be locked, makes chilling reading for the families who lost their daughters,” rail union leader Gerry Doherty said yesterday.
“It clearly predicts fatalities happening in the future unless action is taken to make a dangerous crossing safe.
“Yet not only did Network Rail fail to act when it should but, much, much worse, it failed to disclose this report to the families at the inquest.
“This looks like an apparent cover up by senior management who were clearly worried about the jury looking at alternative verdicts to that of accidental death.
“A re-called inquest is not wide enough in scope to get to the bottom of this. The Attorney General should order a public inquiry so the families can find out why they were kept in the dark for the past six years over the existence of these two damning safety reports.”
Mr Doherty welcomed the re-opening of the inquiry into Elsenham by the rail regulator, the ORR, but pointed out that they too had been ‘mislead’ by NR in the run up to the original inquest.
“This is a publicly funded company and it should be answerable to the public at a public inquiry,” he added.
