Railtrack said today that the onus was on drivers to ensure they did not pass through a blackspot signal at York station while it was on red.

A train passes under Signal Y304 on the approach to York

The comments have provoked anger from a York rail union chief who insisted the problems lay with the position and siting of signals round the city.

Signal Y304 appeared on a national list of British safety flashpoints published in the wake of the Paddington train smash, which Assistant Deputy Commissioner Andy Trotter of the Metropolitan Police said today was likely to have claimed nearer 30 than 40 lives.

Also on the list was the now infamous signal SN109, at Ladbroke Grove, which had been passed eight times between 1990 and 1998 while it was on red.

Trains have gone through the red signal at York on the same number of occasions and last week the Health and Safety Executive ordered Railtrack to install additional controls at the signal by November 6.

An inspection team was today due to examine the signal again.

But a Railtrack spokeswoman told the Evening Press that safety improvements have already been made to stop trains passing through the red signal, which is located on the main line just north of the station.

"We have not had any reports of trains passing through that signal for a year now," she said.

"Action was taken after the last instance in 1998 and that appears to have been successful.

"But in the light of recent events the signal has been checked again to ensure it is clearly visible and is operating correctly.

"Tests show that there is no deficiency and we are contacting train operating companies to ensure drivers know to take particular care at this signal."

Another Railtrack spokesman stressed there was a 200-metre "overlap" at the signal to help avoid accidents.

But Allen Heath, divisional organiser with the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) union in the north east, said drivers were responsible people and would never intentionally go through a red light.

He said the local problem was with the position and siting of signals, which could be at any height and on either side of the track, adding that in strong sunshine a red light could appear green.

"The problem is to remove them and resite them costs money, and these people don't want to know because money is profit and they don't want to start giving their profits away," said Mr Heath.

Rail union ASLEF is to instruct its drivers to impose "appropriate low speeds" at rail signals most often passed at red. The union will announce the speeds in the next few days.

Nationally RMT secretary general Jimmy Knapp said it was an "outrage" that governments and rail companies had ignored important safety measures, raised by the Clapham rail disaster, to speed up privatisation.

He said vital issues raised in the inquiry following the south London crash had been ignored because they would have slowed down the privatisation of the rail system.

"I react with outrage because the installation of automatic train protection was recommended by the Hidden report after the Clapham disaster, so we have wasted 10 years where governments and train companies have prevaricated."

York MP Hugh Bayley called for an audit of accidents and other incidents in the north-east by the rail inspectorate, and said the report should be made public.

He strongly welcomed moves to strip Railtrack of its responsibility for rail safety, adding he had warned of a possible conflict of interest "between the profit motive and safety in a privatised industry".

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