Crash questions dominate papers

The newspapers are full of speculation that the Berkshire train crash which killed seven people may have been caused by a man intent on killing himself.

The Daily Mirror pictured the twisted wreckage of the train under a headline "Suicide by train".

Many reports said an off-duty policeman had pleaded with the man to see reason.

The Daily Express says the "hero" officer had yelled at the young driver to "get out of the car now!"

It reports that the man is believed to have said: "No. Leave me alone. I want to die."

But the Guardian quotes a senior officer who denied the policeman had screamed at the driver to run for his life before the crash.

'Safety fears'

The Independent leads with the headline "Was it suicide?"

It quotes a number of survivors, including 21-year-old Jon Stace who said he thought he was going to die.

The Daily Mail makes no mention of the crash on the front page, but inside speaks to passenger Sharmin Bacchus, 37, who suffered a broken pelvis in the disaster.

She had not travelled by train for seven years because of her fears about rail safety.

The Times reports that rail experts and passenger groups are calling for more safeguards at level crossings to make such incidents less likely.

But in an editorial, it said suicide was impossible to guard against, and called against making "exaggerated and unsustainable" conclusions.

'Impossible dream'

The Daily Telegraph runs the headline "Absolute railway safety is an impossible dream" above its editorial.

It points out that while 18 people were killed on level crossings last year, ten people die on Britain's roads every day.

The Financial Times quotes a railway expert who says that more people would have died if the train was older.

The Daily Star said for once the aged railway system was not to blame.

Some newspapers have blamed Britain's rail network for the car and train collision, near Ufton Nervet.

The Sun has argued that unmanned crossings, such as the one involved in the crash, are inadequate for high-speed rail lines.

Lucky escape

The paper says the crossings make access to the tracks too easy for suicidal drivers, vandals, the mentally ill, or terrorists.

It also quotes police as saying it was lucky more had not died in the crash.

Other papers have also remarked that the train crash death toll could have easily been worse.

The Times said the deaths could have been much higher if the train had been travelling in the normal configuration, with standard cars at the front.

The front carriages, which felt the worst of the impact, were first class cars relatively empty on a Saturday evening, it said.

But the paper still said the crash was a "tragic but rare" incident.