Blair: End rail chaos by Christmas

Passengers face two weeks of further disruption

The government has told Railtrack to end the rail chaos caused by extensive safety checks, in the wake of the Hatfield crash, by Christmas.

Prime Minister Tony Blair believes the company is being excessively cautious about safety.

"It is pretty grim out there for passengers and things have got to get better," his spokesman said, adding that rail users needed "sustainable timetables, particularly in terms of Christmas".

Mr Blair's comments come as Railtrack faces a £750,000 bill for a derailment at Northampton and a fortnight's disruption because four miles of track will have to relaid.

"The issue is whether the balance is right between safety - in so much as you can ever have a form of transport that is completely safe - and having a properly functioning railway," the spokesman said.

"It is not for the government to make that judegment but the prime minister is asking the question whether the balance is right."

The Prime Minister believes the rail delays are excessive

On top of the delays caused by speed restrictions on many network routes, there was a second derailment at Filton near Bristol only an hour after the one at Northampton.

It caused the evacuation of waterfowl as spilt diesel polluted wetlands.

But despite the two incidents, the rail watchdog chairman Sir Alastair Morton has described derailments as a "two-a-penny problem".

Train services to and from Northampton were disrupted in the wake of the derailment.

The damage to the sleepers was exacerbated because the driver of the train was unaware of the problem, and continued into Northampton station before he was alerted by a signalman.

Silverlink services suffered serious delays, with managers struggling to locate enough buses to transfer rush-hour passengers between Northampton and Milton Keynes.

Railtrack say limited services for peak time trains could begin on Friday, but the special timetable would only resume in the week beginning 11 December.

There have always been derailments on railways - they are usually cleared up within hours

Sir Alistair Morton

Contractors worked through Wednesday night to lift two wagons - one carrying a freight container and the other a chemical "flask", weighing as much as 100 tonnes each - back on to the rails.

Railtrack commercial manager Andrew Dawson said after the derailment that initial investigations had ruled out the gauge corner cracking phenomenon thought to have caused the Hatfield derailment.

He said: "The most likely cause at this stage is track condition - perhaps a broken sleeper."

Pink waterfowl

After the empty coal train derailment at Filton, two swans, three cygnets and a number of ducks were taken from a nearby lake after they were contaminated by red diesel oil which had turned them pink.

Four miles of sleepers need to be re-laid

Freight company EWS said initial investigations suggested that the derailment had occurred after the train passed through a red light and triggered safety mechanisms.

Passenger train operators Wales and West say services are unaffected by the accident.

Wednesday's derailments came only hours after a man was killed in his car after a collision with a train on a level crossing, and a fire on a Royal Mail train.

But Sir Alastair Morton, chairman of the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority, told a House of Commons select committe on rail investment: "There have always been derailments on railways. They are usually cleared up within hours."