[+] For example, on 1953-04-08 twelve passengers were killed in a
collision just in rear of signal A491, which had failed. The driver of
the rear train failed to control his speed after tripping past A489.

And in other news hundreds died in Comet airliner crashes caused
by metal fatigue. Good thing we didn't keep on pressuring aircraft
and flying so high else who knows how many other people would
have died!

Are you seriously suggesting that 50 years later the controllers
still wouldn't know that there was a train on the section ahead of
a stuck signal and so to warn the driver behind?

B2003