Network Rail fined £3m over Potters Bar

Network Rail (NR) said it was "truly sorry" for the Potters Bar rail crash after the company was fined £3m today over the 2002 disaster which claimed seven lives.

The rail infrastructure company had pleaded guilty at St Albans Crown Court in Hertfordshire to breaching health and safety regulations which led to a high-speed train derailing at a faulty set of points. NR's predecessor Railtrack was the infrastructure company in charge at the time of the crash but NR has shouldered the responsibility.

Sentencing NR today, Judge Andrew Bright said the crash of the London to King's Lynn train just outside Potters Bar station just before 1pm on 10 May 10 2002 was a "catastrophic accident".

He said the lives of the bereaved families had been devastated and that Railtrack's procedures and standards were "seriously inadequate".