Coroner fears more rail deaths as points blamed for disaster

Rail regulators also said they were considering criminal proceedings after the jury singled out failures in inspection and/or maintenance of the points.

The points' failure was caused by their unsafe condition, jurors added.

After the seven-week inquest Judge Michael Findlay Baker QC promised to file a report expressing his concern about the risk of future deaths.

He said: "Rule 43 of the 1984 Coroners Rules provides, among other things, that, where the evidence in an inquest gives rise to a concern that circumstances creating a risk of other deaths will continue to exist, and in the coroner's opinion action should be taken to prevent the continuation of such circumstances, that the coroner has power to report those circumstances to a person who the coroner believes may have power to take such action.

"It is my intention to make a Rule 43 report and I hereby notify."

He added: "Whatever the causes, the passage of over eight years from the derailment to the conclusion of the hearing of the inquest is indefensible. The families are due a public apology, and as the current representative of the system whose abuse has led to this delay, I offer that apology.

"It feels wholly inadequate, but it is all that is within my power to do."

Six passengers – Austen Kark, Emma Knights, Jonael Schickler, Alexander Ogunwusi, Chia Hsin Lin and Chia Chin Wu – were killed in the crash in Hertfordshire on May 10, 2002.

The seventh victim, Agnes Quinlivan, who was walking nearby, died when hit by debris.

More than 70 people were also injured when the 12.45 King's Cross to King's Lynn train crashed as it reached Potters Bar at around 1pm.

Welcoming the end of the inquest, an Office of Rail Regulation spokesman said: "We will now proceed to determine whether any criminal proceedings for health and safety offences should be brought in accordance with the Work Related Deaths Protocol."

The Crown Prosecution Service – which ruled out criminal proceedings in 2005 – said it would consider whether any new evidence had come to light during the inquest which would warrant a review of that decision.

The six passengers who died were in the fourth carriage, which became detached and airborne. The train was travelling at a legal speed – 98mph – and driver Gordon Gibson was cleared of any blame.

The jurors reached their verdicts after experts told them points near Potters Bar station were "cracked" and "poorly" maintained.

Jurors had also been told that two people – one a rail worker – made three separate reports about "rough rides" on the northbound approach to the station.

A Network Rail spokesman said "much has changed" since the incident, adding: "All of the recommendations made by both the industry's own formal inquiry and the health and safety investigation have been actioned.

"Today the railways are safer than they have ever been."

But Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, said: "In the eight years between the Potters Bar tragedy and today's inquest verdict, two of the main players, Jarvis and Railtrack, have gone out of business.

"That makes a mockery of justice.

"Nobody should be under any illusions that the cuts to maintenance and renewals being imposed on our railways today are dragging us back to exactly the same poisonous cocktail of conditions that led to Potters Bar.

A spokesman for the Department for Transport said it was "carefully" considering the verdict and the coroner's report.

A spokesman for the Association of Train Operating Companies said: "Train companies will study carefully all recommendations made by the coroner."

Inquest 'failed to answer Questions'

The inquest into the Potters Bar rail crash failed to answer key questions about the cause, relatives of the seven victims said.

Describing the eight-year wait for the verdicts as "the most difficult journey", families criticised the limits placed upon jurors about the conclusions they could draw.

The daughter of crash victim Agnes Quinlivan, Pat Smith, said after an eight-year wait, "we haven't got all of the answers yet."

She said relatives had heard a catalogue of inadequacies about shoddy maintenance and management systems.

John Knights, whose daughter Emma died, spoke of his disappointment that the inquest could not explore "systemic failures".