Plans to strip Railtrack of its safety role in the wake of the Paddington train disaster have been ditched by the Government, writes John Chipperfield.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was due to announce today that the firm would retain responsibility for safety on Britain's railways.

But the move has been attacked as a U-turn by survivors, who claim the Government had said it would separate off the role of overseeing safety to an independent body.

A total of 31 people died when a Thames Turbo train and a Great Western express collided at Ladbroke Grove on October 5. The victims included civil servant Anthony Beeton, 47, of Wheatfields, Didcot.

Survivor David Taylor, 34, of Abingdon Road, Didcot, today accused Mr Prescott of being "full of hot air" and described the Government's decision as an "insult" to those who died. "I am very, very disappointed. I do not see how you can have the same company presiding over safety which is also the company responsible for spending money on implementing safety features.

"It is a complete U-turn. It is demonstrating that John Prescott is full of hot air. No action is being taken whatsoever."

Mr Prescott's announcement comes after an investigation by officials at the Department of Transport. Their report recommends Railtrack should separate safety from its profit-making tracks, stations and signals divisions.

The report was one of three being published today on the disaster. Recommendations on train safety systems were being made in the report of an independent investigation by top engineer Sir David Davies.

And a report by the Health and Safety Executive takes a wider look at Railtrack's safety functions. Sir David, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, has been looking at both the sophisticated Automatic Train Protection system and the less-expensive Train Protection Warning System.

ATP was recommended Backtrack on safety after the 1988 Clapham Rail crash, which claimed 35 lives, but its widespread introduction was ruled out in the mid-1990s on grounds of cost.

TPWS is due to be installed network-wide by the end of 2003.

Both ATP and TPWS would have prevented the Thames train from passing signal 109 at Paddington and colliding with the London-bound Great Western express.

Today's reports were coming ahead of the publication on Thursday of Prof John Uff's inquiry into the September 1997 Southall rail crash in which seven people died.

Inquiry hearings into the west London crash were delayed by court proceedings in which both the passenger train company involved - Great Western - and driver Larry Harrison were cleared of manslaughter charges. The first of three 40-minute programmes about the Southall accident, the HSE inquiry into it and the inquiry findings will be shown on BBC2 on Saturday.

Story date: Tuesday 22 February

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