IT BEGAN with a tiny crack in the top of a rail near Hatfield on the main
line running north out of London. As trains hammered over the rail, the crack
slowly deepened, creating a fissure in the rail’s head. Last week, the weakened
rail fractured catastrophically beneath the London to Leeds express. It came off
the rails at 185 kilometres per hour, killing four passengers.
According to Railtrack, the company responsible for Britain’s railway lines,
the rail that broke and caused the crash was only five years old. The previous
rail at the site had lasted 13 years.
The…
