The press release you will have received from the Rail accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) makes clear under the notice to editors section "the sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. The RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions."

In fact, instead of being rapped by the RAIB, we were congratulated on our timely and correct adherence to procedures.

On the day of the accident, an RAIB inspector visited us less than three hours after the incident took place.

he examined the carriage involved and gave us immediate clearance to continue using the carriage in traffic.

Had he had the slightest doubts about the safety of the carriage door mechanism, he would have immediately insisted that the carriages be taken out of service.

these coaches have run for 30 years on the Nene Valley Railway without anything like this ever happening, and in denmark, thousands of coaches of this design ran for many, many years – equally without incident.

The accident was truly a one in a million chance, and not as a result of any failure on the part of the Nene valley railway or its staff and volunteers.

Safety on the railway is our number one priority and always will be, and I hope the fact that we have carried out modifications to make these coaches even safer underlines this.

I appreciate that The ET has been very supportive of the nene valley railway and we have received excellent coverage of our special events, which has been greatly appreciated.

However, to run a headline that implied our safety measures were criticised by the authorities will have done our reputation as a family attraction irreparable damage.
Cris Rees
General Manager,
Nene Valley Railway

Next page: Well-known Walter is deserving of a tribute