....check the film first instead of waiting for a crash ?
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/28022007/344/faulty-track-pictured-crash.html
Faulty track pictured before crash
The Press Association Wednesday February 28, 02:58 PM
Faulty track pictured before crash
Click to enlarge photo
A Network Rail (NR) inspection train took pictures of the faulty track
in the Cumbria derailment two days before the crash but the images
were not looked at until after the disaster, it has been revealed.
The train - known as a new measurement train - passed at high speed
over the Grayrigg area of track on the West Coast Main Line on
February 21.
NR said on Wednesday that the train's primary function is to spot
defects in the metal of the rail and that slowing the video film
recording right down to look for other problems is only done if there
is an incident.
An 84-year-old woman died and 22 people were taken to hospital when
the Virgin Rail Pendolino train derailed on Friday evening.
Earlier this week, an interim report from the Rail Accident
Investigation Branch (RAIB) concluded that the immediate cause of the
accident was a faulty set of points.
An NR spokesman told the Daily Mirror on Wednesday: "The video
recorder on the measurement train did pick up the fact that one of the
stretcher bars on the points and some of the bolts were missing.
"But the video footage is not used on a day-to-day basis. It is only
used as a reference point to go back to for checking."
He added that the measurement trains run at up to 125mph and there
would be "no point somebody watching it at that speed as they wouldn't
be able to pick up any faults".
He went on: "It has to run in super-slow motion to spot faults. The
train runs for up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week. It would
probably take someone most of the month to watch one day's-worth of
data. It's not what it's there for. It's a backwards reference tool."
In its interim report, the RAIB said there was evidence that the NR's
scheduled visual inspection of the track on February 18 did not take
place. The RAIB said it would be further investigating all NR's tests
and inspections for the crash area.
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