BLAME where blame is due: Lord Cullen's report into the Paddington rail crash points the finger squarely at Thames Trains, Railtrack and the post-privatised structure of the industry.

Soon after the October 1999 collision between the express train and the commuter service that killed 31 and injured hundreds, the basic reason for the crash became apparent. The Thames Train driver had passed through a red light.

But as Lord Cullen makes devastatingly clear, this disaster could never be passed off simply as the human error of one individual. It was a failure of the privatised railways as a whole, caused by incompetence that reached up to boardroom level.

Railtrack was repeatedly asked to improve the red light, signal 109, after drivers had complained that it was difficult to see. The company had not taken any action.

After the Paddington disaster, we all became acquainted with one of the more alarming acronyms in British transport: SPADS, or signals passed at danger. Railtrack's list of more than 20 SPADS, including one at York station, emerged after the crash.

Thames Trains, too, is strongly criticised by Lord Cullen. Its poor driver training was another key factor at Paddington. The man in the cab that day was Michael Hodder. He had qualified as a driver only 13 days earlier. He should have been better informed about the layout of the routes into Paddington, Lord Cullen said.

At the time of the crash, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said it must mark a watershed in rail safety. Certainly, some important improvements are underway: the Train Protection Warning System, which would have prevented the accident, is due to be installed nationally by 2003. And work to eliminate the SPADs, including the one at York, is ongoing.

But it took another disaster, Hatfield, to finally place safety above profits on Britain's railways. Lord Cullen's report shows more investment in safety procedures is needed: and that must come out of the private companies' profits.

Updated: 10:43 Tuesday, June 19, 2001