Pendolino safety design limits the casualties in a Virgin
train derailment

Alstoms thoughts are with the family and friends of
the passenger who sadly died in hospital and with those injured
in the incident.



All 9 carriages left the track, some of them dropped about 10
metres to the side of the track. However, they all maintained
their integrity , with very little distortion. None of the
windows has been broken. Rail experts and Virgin all attribute
the relatively low number of casualties to the excellence of
design and build of the train. First investigations, finalised
on 26 February, show that there are no faults linked to the
train and that the track infrastructure (set of points) is
likely to blame. Further investigations are going on.



The train is one of 53 Pendolinos built by Alstom for Virgin's
West Coast Main Line service, which runs between London and
Glasgow in Scotland. The trains have been designed and built in
the Italian, Swiss and British facilities of the company.
Alstom also maintains the trains at depots along the WCML and
has a rigorous safety check regime.




Cécile Dodat


Tel : + 33 (0)1 41 66 91 48


+ 33 (0)6 72 59 83 70


cecile.dodat@transport.alstom.com



Helen Connolly


Tel : +44 1788 545602


+44 7801 776884

helen.connolly@transport.alstom.com