THE inquest opens today into the high speed derailment at Potters Bar in May 2002, in which seven people lost their lives.

Most of them were on a WAGN train to King's Lynn which came off the rails on points as it approached the station at 100mph/160 km/h, but one victim was walking under the railway bridge, where she was fatally injured by falling debris.

One coach ended up wedged under the station canopy, after part of the derailed train had mounted the platform.

Attention will focus on whether the points concerned had been properly maintained by contractor Jarvis on behalf of Railtrack, which had been in Railway Administration since the previous autumn as a prelude to being replaced by Network Rail in October 2002. The government turned down demands for a full public inquiry into the accident in 2005.

The hearing in Letchworth will hear evidence from survivors and other witnesses, and be conducted not by the Hertfordshire coroner but by a QC, Judge Findlay Baker.

The inquest is expected to take two months.