1

The accident claimed the lives of 7 people in total, 5 died at the scene and 2 died
later on in hospital, and injured 71 people, with 11 people classed as seriously
injured and 60 classed as walking wounded.
2
After the incident both the British transport police and health and safety executive
started investigating the incident to determine why it happened and how it could be
prevented.
Victims of the incident called for a public inquiry numerous times but were never
given one.
After the investigations from the HSE, 20% of the points in the area around potters
bar were found to have bolts on them that were not tight enough. The HSE then told
railtrack to review this design of points to investigate whether there was a safer
design that could be used, to review the standards that the points are kept to and to
make sure workers know fully the standards that are in place
Jarvis and railtrack were found to be at blame with the incident, with Jarvis failing to
inspect and maintain their points correctly, leaving them to be below safety
standards. Railtrack were also to blame, as hours before the incident they responded
to a report that there was a very heavy jolt coming from London south of potters bar,
but they had told Jarvis to inspect the points south of potters bar coming towards
London, meaning that Jarvis checked the other points and deemed them to be safe
3
Jarvis, the contracting firm, had to pay 12 million in compensation to the victims,
and lost out on many contracts within the rail, so they lost a lot of money because of
the incident.
Network rail were fined 3 million for the crash in 2011.
The physical damages are not stated, but the train was written off and the station,
along with the track coming into it, had to be repaired, so would have cost a lot.
4
The accident was caused by the bolts in the adjustment bars not being fitted and
laying on the side of the track, next to the points. This was caused by Jarvis having a
poor maintenance routine and failing to inspect points to make sure that all bolts are
to the correct tightness and that they are also present. It is also partly railtracks fault,
as they heard about some faulty points coming into potters bar but gave the wrong
instruction to Jarvis, meaning that they inspected the wrong set.
The incident could have been avoided if Jarvis had done regular checks on the
points and had been thoroughly checked after maintenance had been carried out to
make sure that all points were there. It could also have been avoided if railtrack had
given the right instructions to Jarvis.
5
After the incident, railtrack took most of the maintenance of the track in house,
meaning that Jarvis lost out on many contracts on the railway and went into
administration. A review of the design of the points was carried out, to potentially
make them safer, as well as improving the standard to which the points were kept at
and making sure that all workers are aware of the safety standards and procedures
that are in place.