IT is hard to believe that families are once more grieving for loved ones lost in a major rail disaster. It is only two years since the last one - which occurred at Southall on the same stretch of track as yesterday's horrendous collision near London's Paddington Station.

And it is absolutely scandalous that it has taken two years for an inquiry into the Southall disaster to get under way.

A mealy-mouthed John Prescott stood in front of the mangled remains of the trains and promised an inquiry. He did the same last time.

Surely we should also have an inquiry into why the government, and Prescott's Transport Department in particular, allowed the experts in rail safety to drag their feet for so long.

The deputy prime minister is the man who shoulders the ultimate responsibility for the safety of the travelling public.

He is the man who should have been kicking backsides and verbally savaging the teams who were supposed to come up with answers but who took an incredible two years to even get to the inquiry stage.

He did not. Apparently he was prepared to let millions of rail passengers use a system that was clearly dangerous, while the experts dragged their heels.

Prescott has failed miserably - and he should go.

The evidence before him was overwhelming.

Apart from the Southall crash there have been dozens of near misses, mainly involving drivers going through red lights.

Indeed one near miss happened a few months ago at the very set of lights involved in this latest tragedy.

This is not anecdotal evidence.

It is well documented and proves that in terms of safety our rail system is woefully behind Europe.

We are about to enter the 21st century.

We live in an age that has seen the development of technology capable of taking us to the moon but, here in Britain, we are incapable of coming up with a system which can get a train to switch lines without risking a major crash.

There is even talk that the delay in introducing a safety scheme is because of the expense involved.

That is disgraceful.

The awful images coming out of yesterday's disaster were the sort we expect to see from third world countries where rail systems run with only basic technology.

There must be no repeat. Already public anger is boiling over and that is wholly understandable.

Prescott's prattle about yet another inquiry has a very hollow ring.

The Southall inquiry should be immediately extended to urgently look into the causes of yesterday's crash so that we have answers in weeks rather than years.

In Switzerland, where they have one of the world's best rail safety records, the fail-safe system is paid for by taxes taken from motorists.

But in Britain we seem incapable of coming up with a mechanism which can get a train from one line to another in safety.

Perhaps a Swiss safety expert should be seconded to the Paddington inquiry.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.