Jo McDonnell

Grayrigg derailment
Incident
Train 1S83, the 17: 15 Virgin West Coast Pendolino West Coast Main Line express service from London Euston to Glasgow Central derailed by a faulty set of points. The train traveled up reported at 155 km / h (96 mph) when it derailed. The train, composed of unit 390 033 "City of Glasgow", which was built at Washwood Heath, Birmingham in 2002 and had nine cars carried 105 passengers and four staff members.
Docker Viaduct on the West Coast Main Line near the site of the accident
Passengers said the train cars began rocking and swaying very badly before the train crashed. The train was reported as being evacuated around midnight. Emergency crews scanned the train with thermal imaging equipment to ensure there was no one still inside. Up to 500 rescue workers attended the scene, with at least 12 ambulances, at least five fire trucks, three Royal Air Force Sea King helicopters, three civilian teams of mountain rescue and the RAF Leeming Mountain Rescue Team and a police helicopter from Merseyside. The rescue operation was hampered by rain, darkness, and the problems caused by the access of small country roads and muddy fields. Emergency vehicles have experienced difficult conditions, need to be towed by a farm vehicle or tractor, after sinking into the mud.
North West Ambulance Service first reported that the train was six cars long and the second car slid into an embankment, trapping transport with up to eight people. Later, a reporter from the BBC News on the scene reported that all but one car was overturned.
Live coverage from BBC Television at 08:15 the next morning showed that while the entire train had derailed cars were standing near the rear upright to the sleepers and ballast. standard class, the five cars in front, are the most affected, and the four rear of First Class cars have been less affected. The transport of the foreground, a bus driver, had headed down the embankment, and turned end for end as he fell. He was lying on his side at the foot of the dam. The second car was stabbed jack-cons first, breaking the coupling, and therefore did not follow the bank. The second car stopped some distance further down the runway at a steep angle with one end in the air. The central part of the train on its side down the embankment. All cars remained structurally intact, with damage limited mainly to deformation zones at their ends. Most injuries occurred in the two front cars. The driver, who remained in command, was jailed for nearly an hour while specialist cutting equipment was used for the release of his cabin. The three other crew members were in the back of the first class train.
The survivors were first received at Grayrigg Primary School, which had been opened as a reception center for survivors. Hospitals in the region, including some on the Scottish border in Dumfries and Galloway have been put on hold, but not all patients received. According to BBC News, five passengers were admitted to the Royal Preston Hospital in a critical condition. The police later issued a statement revealing that one of the passengers, aged 84, Margaret Masson from Glasgow, died after being admitted to the hospital. His funeral was held March 31, 2007 at Craigton Crematorium in Glasgow.
Oxenholme
Kendal
Grayrigg
Tebay
West Coast Main Line
M6
Scene of the accident
The accident site
Consequences
A focal point with families has been established in Glasgow Central Station for concerned parents.
Within three hours of the accident site had been closed with a string of five miles. The line would be closed for two weeks, with Virgin Trains said the line would not reopen to passenger services until 12 March 2.