STATEMENT REGARDING HATFIELD:

Wednesday 2 Jul 2003

STATEMENT REGARDING HATFIELD:

Region & Route:: National

“The police investigation into this incident has been in progress since the tragedy occurred. Railtrack, and latterly Network Rail, has co-operated with the British Transport Police throughout. A great deal has changed in the rail industry since the accident in October 2000:

Railtrack Plc went into Administration in October 2001
Network Rail acquired Railtrack Plc in October 2002 and inherited of all its assets and liabilities
Ownership and control of the nation’s rail infrastructure is now the responsibility of Network Rail, a not for dividend company
New technology and machinery has been introduced which enables early detection of rail flaws and allows them to be rectified before problems occur

An unprecedented knowledge of the condition of the rail infrastructure has been established with large-scale investment being made that has not been seen for many decades The company believes that its employees conduct their duties to the best of their abilities with the sole intention of delivering a safe, reliable and efficient rail network. Any individuals who may be involved as part of the police investigation will receive the full support of the company.

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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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