Network Rail and maintenance company Jarvis Rail are to be prosecuted over the 2002 Potters Bar crash, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has said.
Six people died on a London to King's Lynn train which derailed after a points failure on 10 May 2002. A pedestrian was also killed.
A Health and Safety Executive report said poor maintenance was to blame.
The case - over alleged safety breaches - is due to be heard at Watford Magistrates' Court in January.
In 2005, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was no realistic prospect of conviction for gross negligence manslaughter against any individual or corporation in relation to the crash.
The rail regulator said it had been informed last month that the CPS saw no grounds to reconsider its decision.
However, the ORR's director of rail safety Ian Prosser said the recent conclusion of the inquest had paved the way for the prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
I have decided there is enough evidence, and it is in the public interest, to prosecute Network Rail and Jarvis Rail for serious health and safety breaches, he said.
For the sake of the families involved, we will do all we can to ensure the prosecutions proceed as quickly as possible.
At the time of the crash the company in charge of rail infrastructure was Railtrack but its responsibilities were taken over by Network Rail in October 2002.
The ORR said the charge resulted from failure, as infrastructure controller for the national rail network, to provide and implement suitable and sufficient training, standards, procedures and guidance for the installation, maintenance and inspection of adjustable stretcher bars (part of the points).
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11726734
Six people died on a London to King's Lynn train which derailed after a points failure on 10 May 2002. A pedestrian was also killed.
A Health and Safety Executive report said poor maintenance was to blame.
The case - over alleged safety breaches - is due to be heard at Watford Magistrates' Court in January.
In 2005, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was no realistic prospect of conviction for gross negligence manslaughter against any individual or corporation in relation to the crash.
The rail regulator said it had been informed last month that the CPS saw no grounds to reconsider its decision.
However, the ORR's director of rail safety Ian Prosser said the recent conclusion of the inquest had paved the way for the prosecution under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
I have decided there is enough evidence, and it is in the public interest, to prosecute Network Rail and Jarvis Rail for serious health and safety breaches, he said.
For the sake of the families involved, we will do all we can to ensure the prosecutions proceed as quickly as possible.
At the time of the crash the company in charge of rail infrastructure was Railtrack but its responsibilities were taken over by Network Rail in October 2002.
The ORR said the charge resulted from failure, as infrastructure controller for the national rail network, to provide and implement suitable and sufficient training, standards, procedures and guidance for the installation, maintenance and inspection of adjustable stretcher bars (part of the points).
Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11726734
