§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Transport when the report on the diesel high speed train derailment at Northallerton in 1981 will be published; what steps have been taken to ensure that the same type of feature does not occur again; what is the number of incipient failures which has been detected; and how many other axle seizures have occurred without derailment taking place.
§ Mr. David MitchellThe report was published on 8 September 1983 and a copy is in the Library of the House. The steps that have been taken to reduce the chances of a recurrence are detailed in the report. Incipient failures 545W detected during routine inspection and maintenance are not reported to the Department. Since the accident, which occurred in 1979, four axle seizures on high speed trains have been reported but none led to derailment; no further incident has been reported since January 1981, by which time certain modifications to the HST power cars designed to prevent recurrence were well advanced.