Rail speed limits 'are working'

Speed restrictions were imposed after the Hatfield crash

The Deputy Chief Inspector of Railways has rejected claims that the current speed restrictions are making the network more dangerous.

Dr Bob Smallwood told the BBC that the number of signals passed at danger (SPADs) fell to 53 last month compared with 70 in October 1999 and that the November 2000 figure was also expected to be lower than the same month last year.

On Friday, the Association of Train Operating Companies said the rail industry was losing £2m in revenue a day because of the restrictions imposed following last month's Hatfield crash.

The financial plight emerged after The Economist magazine said Shadow Strategic Rail Authority chairman Sir Alastair Morton had privately told government ministers that passengers would be safer if speed restrictions were removed.

It certainly does not make sense if the object of the exercise is to minimise the number of premature deaths

Professor Andrew Evans

Other experts said drivers could pass through danger signals as they were preoccupied with pages of speed-restriction data.

There was also concerns that the rail industry's problems - compounded by the recent severe flooding - would push more travellers on to the already-crowded and far less safe road system.

Since Hatfield, rail passenger numbers have fallen by almost half.

Extra deaths

A resulting growth in road traffic is likely to cause five extra deaths and 75 serious injuries, according to safety experts quoted by The Economist.

Transport expert Professor Andrew Evans, of University College London, said: "It certainly does not make sense if the object of the exercise is to minimise the number of premature deaths."

So far, about 200 speed restrictions have been lifted and Railtrack has rerailed around 90 miles of track.

But a further 200 miles of rerailing is still needed, although the company hopes to do much of this around Christmas and the New Year.