HL Deb 31 January 2001 vol 621 cc58-9WA
Lord Dixon-Smith

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether the cause of the Hatfield rail crash is now sufficiently defined so that there can be confidence in the remedial measures that are being put in place. [HL483]

The Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston)

On 23 January the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published a second interim technical report setting out what happened on the day of the accident. HSE's investigation team is continuing its work into the underlying causes of the incident and will make recommendations in due course.

HSE has identified that the cause of the derailment at Hatfield was due to a broken rail. HSE has also made assessments of the remedial measures taken by Railtrack, and is satisfied that these measures are appropriate to the risk identified. Further work is under way to improve understanding of gauge corner cracking and the best methods of dealing with it.