LONDON -- British Rail started its own investigation Wednesday into the three-train collision that killed 33 people and injured more than 100 in southwest London.
A corner's inquest was also under way to determine the cause of the 33 deaths in Monday's crash. The government was to conduct a separate investigation into Britain's worst rail disaster in 21 years and make it available to the public.
'There is an internal inquiry which is likely to go on for the next day or so,' said a spokesman for the state-run railway company, which already has accepted responsibility for the accident. 'Evidence from witnesses will be passed on to the inspector of railways.'
The crash occurred during rush hour when a 12-coach train from Poole in southeastern England to London's Waterloo Station rammed an eight-car Basingstoke train. The Poole train was travelling in excess of 40 mph, British Rail said. An estimated 1,500 people were aboard the trains.
Seconds later, an engine hauling empty coaches with only a driver and a guard on board plowed into the wreckage, killing some of the people who were thrown clear of the original crash or escaped and were wandering about. The guard aboard the empty train prevented a fourth train from careening into the tangled mass.
It took four hours to free all of those who were injured, some of whom had to be cut from the wreckage.
Both the British Rail and the government investigations are expected to focus on the signal system that controls the flow of traffic on the railway and why the Basingstoke train was not equipped with a radio what would have allowed the driver to report the signal malfunction without stopping.
'The (British Rail) inquiry will take at least two days and will be chaired by the director of safety, Maurice Holmes,' the British Rail spokesman said. 'It will be held at Waterloo station and the results sent to the Department of Transport for the public inquiry which has been promised British Rail has accepted full responsibility for the accident.'
He said checks worth $3,650 would be immediately issued to those in need who were injured and to the families of the dead. Additional settlements were expected later.
A British Railways Board statement said a preliminary investigation indicated the probable cause was 'a technical fault' resulting from construction work to replace old railway equipment.
Work was done Sunday at the site of the accident, a half-mile south of Clapham Junction, Britain's busiest stretch of railway where an average of 2,200 trains pass every 24 hours. The stretch of of track where the accident happened was reopened Tuesday night.
It was the worst British Rail accident since 1967, when a train derailed near Hither Green in southeast London, killing 49 people. Monday's tragedy occurred just over a year after a London subway fire claimed 31 lives.
