Companies fined £13.5 million

Mr Justice McKay today imposed fines of £10 million on Balfour Beatty and £3.5 million on Network Rail, having been found guilty of health and safety offences associated with the Hatfield rail crash.

Balfour, the company responsible for maintaining the section of track where the accident occurred, pleaded guilty in July to breaching health and safety standards. Last month, Network Rail was convicted on the same charge while Balfour was formally cleared of corporate manslaughter.

On 17 October 2000 four people died when a GNER train travelling from London to Leeds was derailed at Hatfield. The cause of the derailment was a broken rail caused by rolling contact fatigue, a condition formerly known as ‘gauge corner cracking’.

“The Hatfield tragedy was a terrible event for everyone involved. Lessons have been learnt and the rail industry has changed enormously for the better over the past five years,” commented Network Rail’s Chairman, Ian McAllister.