London - Railtrack, the company that owns and operates Britain's railways, will be blamed for a series of errors that led to the Paddington rail disaster, according to reports yesterday, writes Rachel Donnelly. Lord Cullen's official report into the 1999 crash, in which 31 people were killed, will be published on Tuesday. According to the London Evening Standard, the senior Scottish judge will criticise Railtrack for failing to improve Signal 109, the signal passed at danger by one of the trains involved in the crash.
The signal was passed at danger eight times in the six years before the crash and was partly obscured by overhead machinery on the day of the tragedy. Thames Trains, whose Turbo train went through the red light, will also be criticised for poor driver training and Lord Cullen will call on all train companies to improve their driver training and escape programmes during emergencies.