Report by

NICK SMITH

A SAFETY programme for railway signals won't include Winsford, Railtrack revealed this week.

Despite the crash which happened on June 23, the signal system at Winsford isn't considered to be one of the worst in the country, according to the Health and Safety Executive.

The incident, when a train sped through a light, known in the railway industry as a SPAD (Signal Passed at Danger), is the only time this has happened at Winsford.

Yet at Swinton, in South Yorkshire, there have had been 16 SPADs, with not one resulting in a collision.

As there was no signal fault identified at the inquiry into the Winsford crash, the station has not been included in the programme.

Railtrack spokesman Keith Lumbley said: "The HSE has issued improvement notices to 22 stations and we have a date in November to improve the safety of the signals.

"At Winsford there has only been one instance of a driver running a red light in 20 years, but at other stations it has happened a lot more and is more urgent."

Winsford is still in line to be one of the first tracks to receive the new Train Detection and Warning System, when sensors on the line will automatically slow down speeding trains.

Town councillors agreed to write to Railtrack requesting Winsford as a priority for this measure.

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