TPWS stops trains going through red signals and therefore stops accidents

Simon Montague

But the rail industry has said it cannot install the data recorders without delaying the introduction of another safety feature - the train protection and warning system (TPWS) which stops trains going past red signals.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is expected to scrap an order to fit the recorders on all trains when he signs new railway safety regulations later this month.

The report into the Southall rail crash in 1997 said data recorders should be fitted on all trains within two years.

The HSE Commission then proposed a deadline at the end of 2002.

But the rail industry believes it cannot install the black boxes until 2005.

The dispute is likely to mean that Mr Prescott will delete a legal deadline for fitting data recorders from new safety regulations he intends to announce at the Labour Party conference.

BBC transport correspondent Simon Montague said train companies say they cannot install the recorders without hindering the adoption of TPWS.

"TPWS stops trains going through red signals and therefore stops accidents and the train companies say that is more important," he said.

The cost of installing TPWS has been estimated at �150m-�200m.

Following the Ladbroke Grove crash in October 1999 in which 31 people were killed, survivors called on the public inquiry into the accident to decide what the best safety system was.

The rail industry backed the installation of the TPWS rather than the more advanced Automatic Train Protection (ATP) which would cost up to �1bn and could take more than a decade to fit.

But critics of TPWS point out that it only stops trains travelling at less than 70mph.