1 Killed, 77 Injured When Train Derails in Britain
Investigators combed the wreckage of a high-speed train crash in remote countryside in northern England Saturday after a female commuter died and five were seriously injured when the London to Scotland service derailed.
The Glasgow-bound Virgin train - packed with 120 passengers and staff - crashed Friday night in the county of Cumbria, near the Scottish border, 270 miles northwest of London, in driving rain.
Virgin Trains spokesman Lee West said the cause of the accident was unknown, but confirmed the train was traveling at 95 mph at the time of the derailment.
Cumbria Ambulance Service spokeswoman Claudine Shacklock said at least 77 people were injured.
Rescue workers initially searched along muddy country lanes to locate the scene, and found that local farmers had arrived ahead of them to help evacuate the injured. Royal Air Force helicopters were scrambled to the scene to transport the wounded to hospitals in nearby towns, police said.
Chief Superintendent Martyn Ripley of the British Transport Police said an 80-year-old woman had died in a hospital as a result of her injuries. Officers are investigating whether the train derailed as the result of a points failure on the track, he said. Points - or railroad switches - are the mechanism used to adjust track settings and alter a train's route. If left in the wrong position, the components can throw carriages off the track.
Morning light revealed the front two carriages of the train, which has a special tilting mechanism that enables it to reach speeds of 125 mph, had been hurled off the track and down a verge. Seven other carriages snaked along an embankment, with one twisted on to its side.
Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson visited the scene Saturday and said he had returned to Britain from a holiday overseas after he was informed of the accident.
"I have been visiting the injured in hospital this morning and our train driver," Branson told reporters. "I wanted to come to the scene to see the damage and also to thank all the emergency services for the work they have done."
Vanessa Robinson, 25, from Perth, Australia, said she was thrown from the train through a smashed window when her carriage rolled upside down.
"I heard a sudden thump, I thought the train was going to catch fire and I thought I was going to die. I felt a bump which threw me against the wall of the carriage," said Robinson, who was traveling to Glasgow on holiday.
The area where the train derailed Friday has seen two accidents on its railway lines in the past four years.
Rail safety has been a major problem in Britain in recent years. One of the most serious accidents occurred in 1999 when a train heading out of London's Paddington station went through a red light and crashed into an incoming high-speed train, killing 31 people. Around 400 people were injured in the accident, which was Britain's worst rail crash in 25 years.
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