Network Rail, the company that owns the rail network, apologised last night for track faults that led to Friday’s fatal derailment in Cumbria, after an initial accident report blamed the crash on the failure of a set of points.

John Armitt, its chief executive, said the company had been “devastated” to have to conclude, after the Rail Accident Investigation Branch report, that the condition of the points – at Lambrigg, five miles north of Oxenholme station – had caused the crash.