RAILTRACK AND train operators this week faced the threat of being forced by law to install automatic warning systems in line with recommendations in the report into the Southall train crash in 1997.
A Health & Safety Commission report published last week expressed concern that recommendations had still not been acted on.
HSC chairman Bill Callaghan warned that he would press for a change in legally enforceable regulations to force the industry into action.
'If necessary we will recommend further legislation to mandate change where it cannot be delivered, although I continue to hope that much can be achieved through voluntary co-operation and industry led action, ' he said.
Callaghan was especially worried that automatic warning systems and train data recorders had still to be installed across the rail network.
The original public inquiry chaired by Professor John Uff made 93 recommendations.
In May this year the HSC published an action plan outlining time bound actions that the rail industry should take to facilitate implementation.
Seven people died in the crash when a Great Western train collided with a freight train operated by English Welsh & Scottish Railways.
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