Passenger trains nearly collide

Danger sign: One train passed a red light

Two passenger trains came within 50 yards of colliding after one of them passed a signal "at danger".

The incident, involving two Virgin Express trains, happened at about 1930BST on Wednesday on the West Coast main line at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire.

Railtrack said that a power cut had caused a signal automatically to change to red under a fail-safe mechanism.

The driver of the 1905BST train from London Euston to Holyhead, north Wales, suddenly noticed the signal go from green to red as he went through and stopped to report it.

Bright sunlight

Moments later, the driver of the 1910BST Euston to Wolverhampton service also went through the signal, but managed to stop just short of the Holyhead train.

It is understood that a Railtrack test of the signal conducted afterwards showed no defect and that the driver of the Wolverhampton train had complained that bright sunlight had masked its aspect.

The incident follows a near-miss last month involving two Connex trains at Bickley in Kent.

The Bickley case happened a day before the Health and Safety Executive issued figures showing that the number of incidents of signals passed at danger was increasing.