Ministers to fast-track new rail accident inquiry unit

Radical plans to create a new rail accident investigation unit to improve safety on Britain's railways are to be published by the Government this summer.

Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Transport, will bring forward plansto enact the key proposals of the Cullen inquiry into the Paddington rail disaster, The Independent has learnt. Under the proposals, contained in a consultation document to be published during this parliamentary session, a Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) will be set up.

The RAIB would be similar to the Air Accident Investigation Branch and would have power to criticise the Health and Safety Executive, which currently leads crash inquiries.

The RAIB, part of the Department for Transport, would attempt to find out of the cause of incidents but have no duty to bring prosecutions. The HSE would retain this role.

Last night bereaved relatives, residents and representatives of the rail industry and the emergency services gathered at a memorial service led by an Anglican and a Catholic bishop for the victims of the Potters Bar rail crash.

The service of "prayer and reflection" was held at the Church of St Mary the Virgin and All Saints in the Hertfordshire town, addressed by the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Christopher Herbert, and the Rt Rev James O'Brien, Roman Catholic Bishop of Westminster.

At a separate ceremony at the crash site, candles were lit in memory of the victims prior to the station's reopening this morning.

Ten days ago seven people died and 76 were injured when the 12.45pm King's Cross to King's Lynn service derailed at 100mph on the approach to Potters Bar station, propelling the fourth carriage sideways on to the station platform.

Sources at the HSE said inspectors were unconvinced by suggestions from Jarvis, the track maintenance contractor, that the train derailed because of sabotage. After tests on a set of points outside the station by international experts, HSE inspectors believe the accident was caused by negligence. A senior HSE investigator said: "We will carry out more tests over the next two weeks but the first indications are that sabotage played no role in the Potters Bar disaster."

The points were removed from the crash scene last week for testing at an HSE laboratory in Buxton, Derbyshire. The interim findings are at odds with claims made by Jarvis on Friday that two sets of nuts which hold a switch rail in place and were discovered next to the track, had been removed intentionally.

Ken Hyde, Jarvis's chief operating officer, said he believed there had been two attempts earlier this month to sabotage the tracks. The company also said it had "evidence from metallurgists" to suggest that the nuts had been removed deliberately. But it admitted that its investigators had examined only photographs of the points and not the points themselves.

Claims of sabotage, which may have diverted blame from Jarvis, also prompted a rebuttal from Peter Rayner, a former British Rail safety executive with 40 years' experience. He said there was a "less than one per cent chance" of sabotage.

Mr Rayner said: "The points are in a situation where they can be seen from the platform, there's probably CCTV and it's a very dangerous place to try to tamper with them.

He added: "My opinion is that it was a tragic accident caused by staff being less well skilled, less well certificated and less well supervised than in the BR days."

The share price of Jarvis, which could face multimillion-pound claims for damages if its maintenance workers are found to be at fault, has fallen by about a quarter since the crash.

Services on the east coast main linewill return to normal this week. The first passenger train since the crash happened passed through Potters Bar station last night. It was bound for Leeds and carrying at least 100 passengers.