What Cullen recommends

Internal links

Complacent. Incompetent. Guilty. The damning verdict on Railtrack

Persistent failures that caused rail disaster

'A bit of vengeance would not go amiss'

Leading article: A safety culture must be embedded deeply into our rail system

* Safety advice should be given before and after travellers have boarded their train.

* There should be standardised, on-board information on emergency facilities

* Drivers to be examined once every three years, with strict criteria for success

* All on-board train staff should receive evacuation training

* A culture must develop within the rail industry in which information is communicated "without fear of recriminations''

* Railway companies should review their emergency planning in the aftermath of a crash

* A telephone system by which passengers can communicate with the signaller in the event of a driver's death should be investigated

* The standard of trains' crash-worthiness needs to be reviewed

* The system for giving information on missing persons should be computerised and made available to police forces nationwide

* Changes to signalling should be subject to constant monitoring

* Signallers and drivers should attend "away days'' to develop a mutual understanding

* Safety auditing should be strengthened, and any organisation that is the subject of an audit should disclose all relevant information.

* Explicit consideration should be given to the "readability'' of a signal. If a signal complies with a minimum requirement, this does not necessarily mean it is adequate

* Where a signal is passed at danger (Spad) there should be no presumption that driver error is the sole or principal cause

* A unique alarm should sound when there has been a Spad

* There should be a national system of direct radio communication between trains and signallers

* Signallers' duties in event of a Spad should be clarified and set out in a single set of instructions

* All staff in the signal box should be briefed by line manager after a Spad

* Any risk assessment should be done independently of Railtrack