Adonis sparks outrage by ruling out inquiry into rail crashes.

THE Government sparked anger yesterday by ruling out holding a public inquiry into the 2007 rail disaster in Cumbria.

Rail unions and relatives of the victims have long pressed for inquiries into the Grayrigg derailment in Cumbria where an elderly passenger died as well as the 2002 Potters Bar crash which claimed seven lives. They felt there should be a joint inquiry as both accidents were caused by faulty points which had not been properly maintained.

But Transport Secretary Lord Adonis announced yesterday the public interest was "best served" by holding two independent inquests into the disasters.

He added he had decided "not to convene a public inquiry into the accidents, either individually or jointly" and that separate inquests would allow the bereaved and injured to express their views "in a transparent forum open to public scrutiny".

Writer Nina Bawden, 84, whose husband Austen Kark was killed in the Potters Bar crash, said the news was "disappointing".

Train drivers' union Aslef described it as an "astonishing" decision, transport union TSSA said it was part of a "cover-up" and rail union the RMT said ruling out a public inquiry was "a scandal".

An inquest into the May 2002 Potters Bar crash in Hertfordshire had begun but was adjourned when the February 2007 Grayrigg accident happened on the West Coast Main Line when a Virgin Rail Pendolino high-speed "tilting" train travelling from London to Glasgow passed over a faulty set of points at 95mph.

Although only one person died, nearly 90 were injured when a number of coaches were derailed.

NR immediately accepted blame and in a report last October, the Rail Accident Investigation Branch listed a catalogue of safety errors. These included not carrying out a planned inspection that "should have detected" the faulty points..