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2002 derailment in the United Kingdom

There have been four railway accidents at Potters Bar (England). Those in 1898 and 1946 were signals passed at danger. The accident in 2002 led to substantial public debate and a national change in policy relating to maintenance of infrastructure.

On 19 March 1898, the 7:50 p. m train from Hatfield to King's Cross ran past the signals at danger when it reached Potters Bar. The train cut through the catch points and buffers and crashed onto the platform. The front part of the engine was smashed and the leading coach wrecked. No one was killed. The driver, fireman and guard narrowly escaped injury. Some passengers complained of being shaken but were able to go home.

On 16 May 1899 the Earl of Strafford was killed at Potters Bar railway station when he was hit by an express train. Witnesses said that he appeared to step in front of the train from the bottom of the slope at the end of the platform; he was carried for 50 yards (46 m). The coroner's court investigated his medical conditions, as he was prone to catalepsy. The possibility of suicide was also considered. A finding of suicide would have had substantial social and legal implications. The jury returned a verdict that the death was due to misadventure.

On 10 May 2002, a northbound train derailed at high speed, killing seven and injuring 76. Part of the train ended up wedged between the station platforms and building structures.

A West Anglia Great Northern train service left King's Cross station at 12:45 heading for King's Lynn in Norfolk, via Cambridge. At 12:55, travelling at 97 mph (156 km/h), the four coach Class 365 Electric multiple unit (unit number: 365526) passed over a set of points "2182A" just south of Potters Bar railway station. The points moved under the train, causing the rear bogie of the third coach and the entire fourth carriage to derail. This caused the fourth coach to become detached and cross onto the adjacent line where it flipped into the air. The momentum threw the carriage into the station, where one end of the carriage struck Darkes Lane bridge parapet, The bolts that held the stretcher bars that maintain the distance between the two point blades had come loose or gone missing, causing the point blades to move apart when the train passed over them. The points had been fully inspected on 1 May by a team working for the private railway maintenance firm Jarvis plc and there had been a further visual inspection on 9 May the day before the crash, with no problems reported. However, that evening, a West Anglia Great Northern station announcer was travelling on the down fast line and that its maintenance was not to blame. No solid evidence of any sabotage has ever come to light, and the HSE report found that other sets of points in the Potters Bar area showed similar, less serious maintenance deficiencies and the poor state of maintenance "probably arose from a failure to understand fully the design and safety requirements". Further investigations by the HSE found that heavy and constant vibrations on the stretcher bars and their bolts caused them in turn to vibrate and oscillate until their nuts fell off the bolts. These have since been replaced by two part locking nuts instead of the main nuts having half size locking nuts to hold them in place. In November 2010, the Office of Rail Regulation said Network Rail and Jarvis Rail would be charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act. The case was heard at Watford Magistrates' Court in February 2011.