Sparks, smoke, stretchers and lingering fears over rail safety

The train was crowded for a cold autumn Sunday morning, more than 200 packed in, as it swung into Camden Town Tube station, on time, at 10.10. But then the last of the six carriages, still in the tunnel, jumped the track and smashed into a wall.

Passengers, many heading for Camden Market, a popular destination with tourists and local people, described hearing a "big, big bang" and seeing sparks, then smoke. The spectre raised was of a fire of the type that engulfed King's Cross station, the next station on the line, 16 years ago, killing 31.

A London Fire Brigade officer explained that the "smoke" was in fact accumulated dust which was rising into the air. "Believe you me, if there was a fire down there, we would be looking at the prospect of a lot, a hell of a lot, of casualties," he said. "That is the nightmare scenario."

Yesterday's accident on the Northern Line caused seven injuries, the most serious of which was a broken thigh bone. More worryingly, it was the second derailment in London within 48 hours, and the third in nine months. It will serve only to increase the doubts harboured by Tube users - including the Mayor, Ken Livingstone - about the safety of the Underground system.

The fire brigade had responded within a minute of being called, and two engines arrived at the station, followed by four ambulances. Rescuers found that three of the carriages had made it to the platform, but three were stuck in the tunnel. They began to evacuate the train and other passengers at the station.

Harry Anscombe, aged 22, a student who lives locally, was on his way to catch the Tube when he saw passengers from the derailed train emerge. He found anger mixed with the relief.

"There were fire crews and ambulance people helping, ushering people up the escalators, passengers with blackened faces. I saw one man who had bandages and blood streaming down his face," he said. "There were lots of people who were shocked, but there were lots who were very angry also. People seemed really quite fed up and angry about what happened. Camden is a very old station and it's always very busy, especially on the Bank branch.

"Fire crews were wearing breathing apparatus - the crash must have caused a lot of dust so everyone was covered in this black, black dust from the Tube. They put chairs at the top of the escalator and they were sitting people down."

Susan Daley was inside the station, on her way to Battersea, south London, when she heard the sound of the crash, followed by emergency calls. "I did not know what had happened, and I am afraid you fear the worst," she said. "I thought about King's Cross. Someone actually said they had seen fire, and that got us all very jumpy.

"I headed out with the others. People were pretty well behaved. It's only when I got up outside that I began to feel completely safe.

"Do I feel annoyed? Well, if it comes out that this was caused by negligence, work not carried out properly, then yes, I would be bloody annoyed."

Pieter Brans, aged 17, was in a group of visiting Dutch studentsin the train behind the one that crashed. "We had stopped for 20 minutes and we did not know what was happening. There was a lack of oxygen and people began to get unwell. We were also very nervous.Then the door was opened and we were led along the tunnel to the platform, it was very dark and we were all very glad to get out."

Another visitor, Claudia Ambrosini, aged 19, was telephoning her parents in Milan, while wiping smudges off her face. "I was down below, but now I am all right," she said. "I did not know there had been another crash a few days ago. I have told my mother, and now she is worried. But, is this a real problem? Is the Tube not safe in this country?"

Early indications were that the crash was the result of problems on the track, and not the train, leading to immediate focus on the award of maintenance contracts to private companies under the controversial PPP scheme.

On Friday evening a Piccadilly Line train had come off the tracks between Hammersmith and Barons Court stations in west London. In January, a Central Line train had derailed and hit a tunnel wall at Chancery Lane station.

Maintenance work on points had been done on Saturday night on the stretch of tracks where the accident took place.

The investigation by Transport for London will consider whether this work, done by the private concern Tube Lines, which has the company Jarvis among its shareholders, played a part in the derailment.

Earlier this month Jarvis announced it was pulling out of mainline rail maintenance. The company is at the centre of a continuing investigation into the Potters Bar rail crash in May 2002, in which seven people died, and has admitted being at fault when a train derailed at King's Cross in London last month.

Peter Rayner, a railway operations and safety expert and a former British Rail safety chief, said: "I was totally opposed to PPP. This all mirrors the problems that the mainline railway faced. It's not just a vertical chain of command, but maintenance is now being done by contractors.

"It's much more difficult to manage this way. You can't find the fat controller - the man in charge. It's ironic that here we are on the Underground starting up with contracts on maintenance when the mainline railways are recognising the impracticality of that and are moving to take maintenance back in-house."

The Rail Maritime and Transport union said that a number of drivers had complained of problems on that part of the tracks. Bob Crow, general secretary, said a ballot on strike action may be held unless the maintenance contracts were suspended.

Mr Livingstone, whose vociferous opposition to PPP ended in expensive failure, said the derailments raised "grave concerns about the safety of the system ... Londoners and visitors must be able to be sure that they are safe on the Tube."

Bob Kiley, the transport commissioner for London and a fierce opponent of PPP, said: "I am not a big believer in coincidence. You have now had two incidents like this in the matter of three days."

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor, said: "Two derailments in three days and the third major incident on three different lines gives cause for concern. London Underground, and its private-sector partners, Metronet and Tube Lines, must make it plain that safety comes before profit, and reassurance means action, not words."

The passenger with the broken thigh, a man in his late thirties, was treated at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north-west London. A man in his twenties suffered a minor head injury.

Mike Strzelecki, London Underground's director of safety, said: "Early indications are that the last bogey of the fifth carriage derailed and the last car derailed entirely. Early indications are this was a problem with the track rather than the train. If it's a problem with the track, our people can fix that very quickly, it might be one or two days. If it's a problem with the train, it could be longer."

He said tracks were inspected every 24 or 48 hours, depending on how heavily they were used. "Camden Town is heavily used and I imagine it's inspected every 24 hours. It should have been checked as a matter of course. Whether it was, I cannot say for certain."

TRACK RECORD

May 1997 Public Private Partnership (PPP) conceived by new Labour government to encourage private finance without outright privatisation

June 2000 Ken Livingstone wins London's mayoral elections. His manifesto opposes PPP

September 2000 Bob Kiley appointed as London's transport commissioner. Asked to review PPP

February 2001 Kiley publishes alternative funding plan, based on bonds

July 2001 Livingstone, Kiley and Transport for London (TfL) apply for judicial review of PPP at the High Court. Government's view prevails

July 2002 Livingstone tries for second judicial review. Loses again, at cost of £4m

October 2002 TfL and Livingstone consider European Court appeal

1 January 2003 Government signs £4.4bn deal with private contractors for part of the London Underground. Tube Lines consortium made responsible for maintaining infrastructure of Northern, Piccadilly and Jubilee lines

25 January 2003 Central Line disrupted for four months after train derailed. At least 32 hurt

4 February 2003 Government and TfL agree terms of transfer of the Tube to Livingstone and TfL. Government agrees to finance PPP and PFI (private finance initiative) contracts. Livingstone drops European court threat

4 April 2003 Contract signed with second private-sector consortium, Metronet, to maintain sub-surface underground

15 July 2003 LU transferred to TfL and Livingstone. Tim O'Toole is new MD

17 October 2003 Tube derailment at Hammersmith by suspected cracked rail

19 October 2003 Tube derailment at Camden Town