On 16 September 2003 a GNER express was derailed at just after 07:00hrs (BST) immediately after leaving Platform 4 at King's Cross station in London. The immediate cause of the accident was the routing of the train onto a length of track with a missing rail. The length of rail had been removed during maintenance work, as is permissible, but it should not have been possible for a train to be routed onto the section of track where the rail had been removed.