Investigators started safety checks on British railway tracks on Sunday following a high-speed train derailment accident, which killed an elderly woman and injured scores more.

 

The safety check is mainly to focus on sets of points, which Chairman of the Virgin Group Richard Branson, held to be responsible for the accident. The Virgin Group owns the train company involved.

 

The accident occurred on Friday when a Virgin Pendolino tilting train, heading from London to Glasgow, derailed at 95 mph in the suburbs of Cumbria, northwest England.

 

Track operator Network Rail has launched safety checks on 600 to 700 sets of points, identified as "the focus of attention," according to John Armitt, chief executive of the company.

 

The latest accident has alarmed the government that it is time to upgrade Britain's train tracks, according to Bob Crowe, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union.

 

The Pendolino tilting train involved in the accident was designed by the Italian manufacturer Fiat Ferroviaria, which was later bought by the French firm Alstom in 2000.

 

Experts said that the trains safety features helped limit the casualties in the accident. Officers said it was "little short of a miracle" that more people had not died.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2007)