MANGLED carriages from the Berkshire rail crash which left seven dead and scores injured have arrived at Crewe Works to be examined by experts.

The two engines and seven passenger compartments were taken by road to the Bombardier plant in West Street on a series of trailers under blue tarpaulin.

Passengers needed to be cut free from the wreckage when the 350-ton passenger train derailed 11 days ago after smashing into a car parked on a level crossing.

The car's driver, Bryan Drysdale, 39, a chef from Reading, was among the dead. It is believed he parked on the line in a suicide attempt.

The dead also included the train's driver and two girls aged nine and 14. Another 79 people were left injured in the crash, near the village of Ufton Nervert.

Neil Harvey, director of communications at Bombardier Transportation, confirmed the carriages would be stored at Crewe Works for investigation by police and safety experts.

The plant was also used to store carriages involved in the Potters Bar rail disaster in 2002, which claimed seven lives, and the Hatfield crash in 2000, in which four people died.

Families of the victims were given permission to visit the Crewe plant to view the carriages in which their loved ones lost their lives.

Mr Harvey said it is not yet known whether family members would be coming to see the carriages of the First North Western train which crashed in Berkshire.

Images from the crash show many of the carriages to be crumpled and twisted beyond recognition. The buffet car was left bent double by the impact.

Mr Harvey said: 'I can confirm the carriages will be stored at the Crewe plant. They have to go somewhere and we have the best facilities to store them securely and out of sight.

'They are there purely to be stored while the investigation is ongoing. That will be carried out by the British Transport Police and the Health and Safety Executive.

'They have been cordoned off. The staff have had carriages from other crashes in the plant. I won't say it's the norm but it is something they have experienced before.'

The company said it will not allow anyone other than the workers and investigators to see the carriages and will forbid members of the media and photographers.

One worker at the plant, who asked not to be named, said staff working near the wreckage are mindful of the suffering of the crash victims and their families.

He said: 'You obviously bear what has happened in mind.

'The staff have worked along carriages from crashes before, but that doesn't mean they are not sympathetic.

'It is part of our job and we just get on with it.'