‘Faulty points’ were to blame for the train derailment near Grayrigg, Cumbria which caused the death of 84 year old Margaret Masson, an inquest jury has found.
The Virgin train derailed on the West Coast Main Line in February 2007 after it went over a ‘degraded and unsafe’ set of points at over 90 mph and hurtled down an embankment, injuring 88 people.
Mrs Masson died in hospital 3 hours after the crash.
The victim’s son, George Masson, said he believed the responsibility “lies at the door of Network Rail.”
The engineer who forgot to inspect the points before the crash, David Lewis, broke down in tears during the inquest and said he felt like a man ‘spinning plates on sticks’.
One of Mr Lewis’ colleagues told the inquest that staff had to put up with ‘bully-boy management’.
Mr Lewis said his team were understaffed and ‘under pressure’ with not enough time to carry out procedures correctly.
The jury was told how Mr Lewis had warned his bosses of the ‘shambles’ prior to the derailment.
After the hearing, George Masson said:
“In my eyes it is negligence on Network Rail’s part, not him (Mr Lewis). The one that tried to make changes lost his job, his pension, he was not listened to from above.
“Before I knew anything about this I wanted to take his head off his shoulders. Now I totally respect him. He’s got my utmost respect for what he tried to do. It’s been swept under the carpet.”
Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director of network operations said:
“Today we remember the terrible tragedy at Grayrigg in 2007 and the tragic death of Margaret Masson.
“Network Rail has not hidden from its responsibilities – the company quickly accepted that it was a fault with the infrastructure that caused the accident. We again apologise to Mrs Masson’s family.
“Since the derailment Network Rail has worked closely with the authorities, conducted comprehensive and detailed investigations and made substantial changes to its maintenance regime.
“Today there is no safer form of travel than rail and it is important that the rail industry seeks ways to make it safer still.”
