Rail Accident Investigation Branch

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is a government agency that became operational on 17 October 2005. Its primary role is the investigation of rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame.The Cullen Report into the Ladbroke Grove rail crash in 1999 recommended the establishment of an accident investigation body within the Department for Transport along the same lines as the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Air Accident Investigation Branch, bodies that have distinguished themselves by their professionalism and objectivity.So in 2003 Parliament legislated - in the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 - to create the RAIB as an independent body charged solely with establishing the facts of the case and assessing and evaluating causes, but not apportioning blame or establishing liability; nor does the RAIB enforce safety law or conduct prosecutions.