Railtrack chief urges changes

Railtrack chief executive, Gerald Corbett, said it was tiime for rail companies to work together to help prevent a repeat of the Hatfield train crash.

Railtrack chief executive, Gerald Corbett, said it was tiime for rail companies to work together to help prevent a repeat of the Hatfield train crash.

He said: "We have got to pull it all together better and make it easier to manage otherwise we cannot deliver all the parts."

Mr Corbett also attacked the way that the rail industry had been privatised by the Conservative Government, saying it had been "ripped apart" to create a structure that would generate the maximum amount of money for the treasury.

In a further blow for Railtrack's image, the company has been accused of cutting the number of maintenance staff working on Britain's railways by 6,000.

Brian Clancy, chairman of The Association of Consulting Engineers, said: "Railtrack has continually cut the margins of consulting engineers and contractors.

"Railtrack procurement staff openly boast of driving down the costs of rail maintenance."