Cause of Accident
A preliminary investigation found a rail had fragmented as trains passed and that the likely cause was "rolling contact fatigue" (defined as multiple surface-breaking cracks). Such cracks are caused by high loads where the wheels contact the rail. Repeated loading causes fatigue cracks to grow. When they reach a critical size, the rail fails. Over 300 critical cracks were found in rails at Hatfield. The problem was known about before the accident, and replacement rails made available but never delivered to the correct location for installation. The implication that other rails might be affected led to speed restrictions on huge lengths of railway, causing significant delays on many routes, while checks were carried out on the rail condition. The incidence of cracks similar to those found at Hatfield was alarmingly high throughout the country.
The rail infrastructure company Railtrack, having divested much of the engineering knowledge of British Rail into maintenance contractors, had inadequate maintenance records and no accessible asset register. It did not know how much other "gauge corner cracking" around the network could lead to a Hatfield-like accident. Railtrack imposed over 1,200 emergency speed restrictions and instigated a nationwide (and costly) track replacement programme. The company was subject to "enforcement" by the Rail Regulator Tom Winsor.
Read more about this topic: Hatfield Rail Crash
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