A CATALOGUE of failures to act by Railtrack led to the Paddington rail disaster which killed more than 30 people, a court has heard.

Yesterday saw the start of the two-day sentencing hearing into Railtrack's role in the crash.

Railtrack has now been replaced by Network Rail.

The crash, which happened in October 1999, killed 31 people, including two from the Swindon area.

Blackfriars Crown Court was told that the failures in Railtrack, which was then responsible for maintaining Britain's railways, started at the top and permeated the whole organisation.

Network Rail faces an unlimited fine after earlier admitting breaching various part of the 1974 Health and Safety At Work Act.

Opening the case for the Crown, Philip Mott QC compared the crash, which also injured more than 400 people, with a terrorist atrocity.

The tragedy happened when the London-bound First Great Western express train crashed into a Thames Trains local service travelling to Bedwyn, in Wiltshire.

The first-class carriage at the front of the high-speed InterCity service burst into flames.

The impact was compounded by fireballs of diesel vapour that shot through the wrecked carriages.

"The numbers of dead and injured are so great that they may risk appearing to be mere statistics," said Mr Mott.

"But no-one who has studied the evidence in this case can fail to be aware of the individual tragedies which lie behind each and every one of those names and numbers."

The crash happened when the Thames Train went through a red light at Ladbroke Grove, shortly after leaving London's Paddington Station.

Among those who lost their lives were Swindon company boss David Roberts, 35, who lived in Kingshill, and Bryan Tompson, of Ampney Crucis, near Cirencester.

The court heard that concerns about the jumped signal, which has become known as SN109, had been raised as early as November 1995.

The court heard that the signal did not comply with rail safety requirements at the time of the crash because it was only fully visible from 164 metres away, not the required 188 metres.

First Great Western wrote to Railtrack on numerous occasions to express grave concerns about the signalling around Paddington but the court heard that very little was done.

Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a single count indictment detailing a number of health and safety blunders.

The company's guilty plea is simply an admission of risk creation and does not mean it accepts responsibility for the deaths and injuries.

Thames Trains was fined £2m in 2004 for its role in the incident.