I used to work on the Signal & Telecomms Eng'rs Dept on British Railways as it then was. As far as I can remember, the permanent way (track) on main lines such as this one, were thoroughly checked daily for faults like this (and broken rails), when labour was so much more plentiful. This is one of the prices to pay for more mechanisation and less labour, there's always a downside to any kind of progress!

John Axon. Hardly the same, he was on a steam loco with hardly any automatic brakes on the train, handbrakes should have been pinned down on a certain percentage of the old wagons but the guard didn't have time to complete his task before the train began to 'run away' down a steep incline. This was because his (John Axon's) steam brake didn't work on the loco, either, due to a catastrophic failure. He was, unfortunately, doomed! The fireman managed to escape by jumpimg off the footplate before it was too late and the train had gathered too much speed for him to safely do so.

With all due respect to the driver on the Pendolino, he was hardly in a similar situation as so much is automated on their train control systems. Besides, if the train was already derailed, I doubt whether the train brakes would have made very much difference to the situation!