Train report recommends multi-billion-dollar safety system

An official report into two fatal rail crashes near London has recommended installing a sophisticated automatic braking system on all high-speed trains in Britain by 2008.

The safety report on the Paddington and Southall crashes, which killed thirty-one and seven people respectively, said that until the system , known as the European Train Control System, was generally available on British railways, there was still a risk that a train going through a red light would cause another catastrophic accident.

The privatised company, Railtrack, which is responsible for much of the railways infrastructure, estimated it would cost between three and five billion dollars and take up to fifteen years to install the system. The report said that for the next three years the rail companies should continue installing a cheaper safety device known as the Train Protection Warning System, even though the authors admitted that it would have failed to prevent the Southall crash. A separate report by a parliamentary committee has called for Railtrack to be re-nationalised.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service