Sabotage boy arrested

A teenager has been arrested after repeated serious attempts were made to derail mainline passenger trains near Paddington station, it was revealed today.

This was not vandalism, investigators believe, but a serious bid to derail a mainline express.

Police said the attacks had "the potential to cause injuries and death."

The youth is alleged to have ripped up 3ft by 4ft track magnets and put them on the running rails.

These are part of the Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) designed to halt a train if it goes through a red light.

He is also alleged to have placed concrete slabs - used to cover cables alongside the lines - across the tracks.

The arrest follows a series of eight sabotage attacks on the busy tracks at Westbourne Park, where First Great Western trains travel at up to 100 mph.

Police say it is one of the most serious incidents of sabotage they have dealt with and could have had "catastrophic consequences."

A spokesman for the British Transport Police confirmed; a series of incidents "which could have derailed a train".

A senior rail industry source said: "This is absolutely terrifying. These tracks are among the busiest

serving the capital and carry both high-speed and local trains."

The 15-year-old boy was arrested for the offence of "endangering the safety of persons on the railway". This is the most serious category and can carry life imprisonment.

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "This is an extremely serious offence. We feel that the person responsible should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law."

Police were alerted to the sabotage attempts by rail staff after train drivers had reported hitting items on the track.

They also found piles of wood, stones, wiring and cables were being placed on the lines used by both express and local services.

BTP officers launched a special investigation and the youth was arrested last night. A BTP spokesman said: "At 8.20pm last night, following a series of offences of obstacles on the railway near Paddington, a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of endangering the safety of people on the railway.

"It is the result of a number of offences of a similar nature near Paddington. It would have been possible that a train could have been derailed. It did have the potential to cause injuries and death."

Paddington is used by more than 60,000 passengers a day.

Serious vandalism on the railways is of increasing concern to police and rail chiefs.

The Health and Safety Executive have repeatedly stressed the dangers to passengers and staff using the railways caused by vandalism.

More than half of train accidents for the period 2001-2 were due to vandalism, said the HSE.

Last week vandals threw a concrete block from a bridge onto a high-speed First Great Western from - showering the driver with glass. It happened to the Paddington and Plymouth service near Cullompton in Devon.

The BTP said then: "The train had just slowed down but was accelerating to 100 mph."

The area where the sabotage attempts took place is close to Ladbroke Grove, scene of the head-on train crash in October 1999 in which 31 people died and more than 300 were injured.

A local Thames Trains service passed through a red signal and into the path of a London-bound express.