Alarm as trains pass red lights after storm

One day of bad weather caused a terrifying increase in the number of trains passing red lights, a confidential Railtrack document shows.

In one 24-hour period, 49 trains drove through signals set at danger – more than twice the number for the whole of September. Ten of the incidents were so serious and the drivers so shaken that they were relieved of duty, according to the internal log. One service travelled for a mile before coming to a halt.

A Railtrack official told The Independent that trains were "slipping and sliding" all over southern Britain in the 24 hours up to 6am on 29 October, largely because of "leaves on the line". Insiders said it was the highest number of potentially dangerous incidents in recent times.

The huge number of signals passed at danger (Spads) also caused severe disruption to the timetable. Two hundred services were delayed for about 80 hours, the log showed.

That was only a fraction of the chaos caused during the 24-hour period. Ninety-two days of delays resulted from a range of causes.

The internal Railtrack log shows that the vast majority of Spads were caused by "slippery rails" or "poor railhead conditions" resulting from leaves on the line and moisture.

The log showed that a Midland Mainline service from London St Pancras to Derby went a mile past a red signal at Little Bowden, Leicestershire, at 9.17pm on 28 October.

Of the 49 Spads revealed, 21 involved trains during the course of their journeys and 27 were station "overruns".

A spokesman for Railtrack said the number of Spads had gone up because of "extreme" weather conditions. It took trains longer to brake under such circumstances, "similar to the effect of black ice on the roads". He said some trains had only gone a coach length or so past a red signal.