High Speed Train Disaster

A high-speed express train derailed Friday on its way through a station north of London and one car crashed onto the platform, killing six officials said.

Ten people were seriously injured, six of them critically, British Transport police said. At least 45 others suffered less severe wounds.

Part of the four-carriage train slewed over a platform at Potters Bar, north of London, sending waiting commuters running for cover.

"I heard a bang and saw the train mount the platform. After that, there was screaming and chaos everywhere," said fitness instructor Andy Perversi, on the platform when the lunchtime disaster struck.

It was the latest tragedy to hit the trains in Britain, where the world's first public steam railway began in 1825.

In recent years the network has been hit by crippling delays and death -- this was the fifth fatal accident in as many years -- leading to fears of Third-World safety standards in one of the world's richest countries.

"There were guys in ties and suits walking around in shock with their hands on their heads. There was blood everywhere. It was terrible," said Perversi, 21.

After Perversi ran from the oncoming train, he said he saw a woman lying on the rail line and went to her.

"I climbed down to help her. I took her pulse and that was weak and I tried to check if she was breathing," he said. "I held her in my arms to try and comfort her and started screaming for help" until a paramedic came.

"I also saw a lady with her leg stuck under the train," he said.

Police said the force of the accident was so great that the rear of the four-carriage train careered into the station. Emergency services said there were 10 people seriously injured, six critical, and dozens more "walking wounded."

Workers battled for 30 minutes to free one woman from under the wheels of a carriage tipped on its side. The injured staggered into a local supermarket-turned-first aid station.

The derailment was less than five miles from Hatfield, where an express train came off the tracks in October 2000, killing four people.

Railtrack, the rail network operator, said it believed the train was traveling at high speed when it jumped the tracks.

"The line speed on...the fast line is 100 miles per hour," said Railtrack's regional director Robin Gisby.

"It is reasonable to assume that that is probably what the train was doing. It had no reason to stop at this station, no reason to slow down."

Nicholas Anastasiou, who owns a shop by the station, told Sky News he saw "people everywhere, loads of people on the platform running away from the scene, blood pouring everywhere. Terrible.

"All I heard was a big bang, and as I went out of the shop I could see people running around everywhere and I saw the train hanging off...and half the bridge on the road, cars smashed everywhere."

ASLEF, the train drivers' union, said the driver Andy Gibson survived and would help police with their inquiries.

The Labor government will also face questions about the rail network's record after a string of disasters on its watch.

In February last year, 10 people were killed when an express train collided with a car before being hit by a freight train near the Yorkshire town of Selby in northern England.

In October 1999, two trains collided near London's Paddington station, killing 31 people. One of the trains had gone through a red signal.

A spokesman for operators WAGN said the train was its 1145 GMT service from King's Cross, London to King's Lynn, Norfolk.

Shares of National Express, which owns WAGN, fell six percent after the accident, which comes eight months after the government forced network operator Railtrack Plc into insolvency. Other train operating groups, First Group plc and Go Ahead Group also lost ground.

The end of Railtrack came amid spiraling costs, a deteriorating service and vanishing passenger confidence.

Its handling has left question marks over the fate of Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, also under pressure for a political wrangle involving his media staff.

Tragedy aside, Byers urged commuters to remember "travel by rail is one of the safest forms of travel in our country."