Railtrack pay-off for ex-boss

Railtrack's former chief executive Gerald Corbett is to receive a six-figure golden handshake following his resignation on Friday.

The company confirmed Mr Corbett would receive hundreds of thousands of pounds, which is likely to spark indignation among rail passengers who are still subject to delays as safety checks are carried out.

Mr Corbett wasn't very highly paid against the benchmark of other chief executives

Railtrack spokeswoman

A Railtrack spokeswoman told BBC News Online the pay-off will be decided by a compensation board, and that his £377,000 salary was not very high for a chief executive.

"When you consider the size of the job and the challenge of the job, he was generally underpaid," she said.

Mr Corbett, 49, resigned a month after the Hatfield rail crash which killed four people and injured 35.

A massive programme of rail replacement covering 300 miles of track is currently being carried out.

Rail chaos

There are still 500 speed restrictions in place with Intercity routes suffering the most.

The east coast, west coast and Midland lines are the worst affected.

Mr Corbett's resignation was accepted "with regret" by the Railtrack board.

Steven Marshall, currently finance director, had been appointed chief executive with immediate effect.

Mr Corbett first offered to resign after the Hatfield crash

It is the second time Mr Corbett has tendered his resignation.

He first offered to stand down on 18 October, a day after the Hatfield derailment.

But it was rejected to allow him to put a national recovery plan for the railways in place.

'Profile too high'

Mr Corbett waived an estimated £100,000 annual bonus in the summer after last year's Paddington crash.

And Railtrack bosses cancelled all official staff Christmas parties this year because the company is in "official mourning".

Mr Corbett, speaking after his resignation, said he felt "the time was now right for someone fresh to lead the company forward".

It is quite right that the company should now look forward and draw a line in the sand

Gerald Corbett

Mr Corbett said he was leaving the job because "in the last few weeks my own profile has been far too high for my own good, my family's good and also for the company's good".

He said it was "quite right that the company should now look forward and draw a line in the sand".

Railtrack also announced that its chairman, Sir Philip Beck, will stand down, next summer.

In a statement, Sir Philip said: "The directors would like to thank Gerald for his enormous contribution to the company, through his leadership, energy and enthusiasm the company has made major steps forward."