Crash Probe Suspects Signals

An official report released Monday into a train collision last year that killed 31 people found that traffic signals near the crash site were "exceptionally difficult" to read.

The Health and Safety Executive concluded that signaling near London's Paddington Station "did not comply with relevant industry standards."

The October 1999 crash, which also injured 244 people, occurred after the driver of a Thames train jumped a red light 2 miles west of Paddington, bringing his train directly into the path of an incoming high-speed Great Western express. Both train drivers died in the collision, which took place at the height of morning rush hour.

The red light, known as signal 109, had been passed seven other times in the past five years, and was considered one of the 22 most dangerous train signals in the country, according to the report by government inspectors.

The report said that there were "no indications" that Michael Hodder, the driver of the Thames train, "deliberately set out to pass signal 109 at red."

Hodder had only qualified as a train driver 13 days before the accident, according to the report.

While the Health and Safety Executive report made no safety recommendations, it concluded that the collision could have been prevented by a sophisticated and expensive train safety system that automatically prevents trains from going through red lights. Immediately after the crash, the government pledged to install that warning system across the rail network by 2003.

A public inquiry, headed by Lord Cullen, is expected to make safety recommendations after it concludes early next year.