Rail expert: Points may have moved

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- A train crash at Potters Bar station north of London has left several people dead and dozens injured. Shortly afterwards, Richard Hope of Railway Gazette spoke with CNN International anchor Nici Marx.

MARX: What are the early indications telling you about this crash?

HOPE: The point at which the derailment was initiated is pretty clear. There is a blue tarpaulin (that has) been laid over the ends of the points, or switch in American terms, where a diverging track goes off the main line.

The motor and point mechanism is covered, but one can see that those points are damaged. And more significantly, not just one of the tracks leading on from those points but both of the tracks leading on from those points are damaged, they are moved out of place, suggesting they were wrenched out of place.

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And it looks to me as though the points moved under the train. As the train actually went over them, the points may have moved or changed or become damaged in some way, so that the tail end of the train actually tried to take the diverging track, and that's why the last car got spun round through 90 degrees or so and has ended up jammed in the station buildings, but right across the tracks.

MARX: After the 2000 crash at nearby Hatfield, are railway lines any safer? Is funding any better in Britain?

HOPE: There is a lot more money going into the railways in Britain, although I have to say that the money is not always being spent wisely, and privatisation five years ago, six years ago, has left us with a very difficult structure to make it work.

Nevertheless, set that aside for the moment, there is no indication yet that privatisation has been the cause of this accident. I think it's more likely to be a technical failure, or vandalism or sabotage of some kind.

MARX: Is there a problem with the management structure in Britain's railways?

HOPE: There is a problem with the management structure, it's a very fragmented structure. The management of the track and signals and so on are in the hands of one company. Other companies run their trains and have no control over the track. That's not the way railways have been run throughout the first 160 years of their history throughout the world. We're learning some painful lessons of the disadvantages of that at the moment.

MARX: Just looking at pictures of the crash, are surprised there weren't more deaths?

HOPE: No, not that surprised. Modern railway cars protect the passengers very well indeed. Each new generation is stronger and tougher and better designed. It is usual with rail accidents, even ones that do a lot of physical damage, it is usual for the majority of people to get out, often without any injury at all. The number of fatalities is typically in the single figures, although in a very bad case it can go higher.