LONDON — Insolvent UK rail network operator Railtrack said on Sunday it would offer compensation to victims of a fatal train crash in May on the northern edge of London, even though blame has yet to be allocated for it, in a move to speed claims and limit suffering, according to a wire service.
Railtrack said it was making the payment offer, said to be worth up to 12 million pounds by industry analysts, because it could otherwise take over a year to sort out compensation claims for the crash which killed seven people and injured more than 70.
Railtrack declined to comment on terms of compensation. It said if victims who felt settlement offers were insufficient were free to appeal to a court or settle once insurers had established liability for the crash.
Railtrack, which is being taken over by a state-backed firm after its disasterous privatisation, said it was not accepting liability for the crash, in which a high-speed train went off the rails at Potters Bar. It was the fifth fatal accident in as many years on Britain’s ageing railways.
Railtrack said it was offering compensation ahead of a liability decision on ethical grounds rather than in the belief that it might ultimately be found responsible.
“It is morally wrong that people suffer in the accident and then suffer in sorting out financial details of the accident because it’s unclear who’s to blame,” a Railtrack spokesman said.
Compensation payments are normally made shortly after railway accidents when insurers for the companies involved accept who was to blame and the guilty company takes the lead in handling compensation claims. But in the case of the Potters Bar crash, Railtrack said it is proving difficult to establish blame and it could take a year for insurers to decide who is liable.
Railtrack said it would officially unveil its compensation offer on Monday. It said the payment marked the first time the British railway industry had agreed to settle with accident victims before final liability for an incident had been decided.
Railtrack said it had agreed with Jarvis Plc.(London:JRVS.L – News), the company that looks after the Potters Bar track, and WAGN , the company operating the train that crashed, that it would take the lead in meeting requests for compensation.
A preliminary government report in July into the Potters Bar accident said it believed nuts were missing from a track switching point leading to its failure.
Suspicions that a track fault was to blame for the crash have wiped almost 50 percent off Jarvis shares. The stock has yet to recover.
Jarvis officials were not immediately available to comment on the proposed settlement.
The company has vigorously defended itself against suggestions of poor maintenecace standards and continues to help with inquiries into what caused the points failure.