British Rail Crash Blamed on Signal Installation

A preliminary investigation of the collision of three trains in southwest London, which claimed a 34th victim Friday, blamed the accident on faulty installation of signaling equipment by British Rail workers.

British Rail promptly assumed responsibility for the accident Monday at Clapham Junction and pledged to make payments to the victims’ relatives and to more than 100 people who were injured.

A statement issued by the British Railways Board said preliminary findings blamed the collision on “defectively installed” signaling equipment.

“It appears probable that the signaling equipment for the stretch of line where the collision occurred, which had been recently installed by BR, had been defectively installed, but that the equipment itself was not defective, and that the defective installation interfered with the fail-safe systems of that stretch of line,” the statement said.

It said the judgment was “both preliminary and provisional” because the internal inquiry has not finished taking evidence. The evidence will be given to the government.

The collision occurred when the engineer of a train from Basingstoke stopped to report that a signal was flickering randomly.

A train from Poole then crashed into the rear of the Basingstoke train, indicating that signals down the line were not working properly.

Seconds later, an engine hauling empty cars came from the opposite direction and hit the wreckage.