Grayrigg Derailment

The Grayrigg derailment was a fatal railway accident that occurred at approximately 20:15 GMT on 23 February 2007, just to the south of Grayrigg, Cumbria, in the North West England region of the United Kingdom. The initial conclusion of the accident investigation is that the derailment was caused by a faulty set of points (number 2B), controlled from Lambrigg ground frame. The scheduled inspection on 18 February 2007 had not taken place and the faults had gone undetected. The points which caused the derailment, and points 2A on the opposite line, were removed from the track following the derailment and the line is now welded continuously for 2.2 miles (3.5 km) including the line over the Docker viaduct.

The derailment also brought down the overhead line equipment which had to be replaced. Modern double-line catenary from a single stand was used for this. Although the accident killed far fewer people than some other accidents on the West Coast Main Line, it had a serious financial impact on Network Rail.