Network Rail News

The father of a girl who died at a level crossing said that work being carried out to make crossings safer is "encouraging".

Speaking to Daybreak Chris Bazlington said: "Network Rail still I don't think are there yet, they're doing a lot more than they were before, and that's encouraging.

He added; "These stories which keep coming out are worrying."

• UK
• Department for Transport
• Network Rail

A Network Rail spokesperson has responded to calls for an inquiry into the way danger is assessed at level crossings.

We recognise that level crossings can be dangerous which is why over the past two years we have closed over 700 and are investing some £130 million in improvements. By early next year we will have made improvements at some 2,500 of the countrys 6,500 crossings and continue a national public awareness campaign to help educate people about their dangers and how to use them correctly.

• UK
• Department for Transport
• Network Rail

Network Rail has been fined £450,000 for breaching health and safety rules which led to the death of a woman at a level-crossing in Herefordshire.

A signalman was also fined for his role in the accident which killed Jane Harding. Today a judge said the incident was entirely preventable. Charlotte Grant reports.

• UK
• Herefordshire
• Network Rail

The husband of Jane Harding, who died when the car she was a passenger in was hit by a train, said safety and not cost must be the organisation's top priority.

After Network Rail were fined today, Mark Harding said in a statement: "Just over three years ago my life changed forever.

"On January 16, 2010 we lost a loving and devoted daughter, sister, wife and mother to a then 13-year-old son, in an accident which we now learn could have been prevented."

He added: "If Jane's passing is to have any meaning, it will be that, in future, rail and road users will be placed at the forefront of those in the rail industry whose responsibility it is to ensure the general public's safety at level crossings.

"Safety - not cost - must be the top priority. The cost of any life, as we can testify, is incalculable."

• UK
• Network Rail

Network Rail has been fined £450,000 and signalman Adrian Maund £1,750 after being found guilty of breaching health and safety laws following the death of a woman at a level crossing.

Jane Harding, 52, died when the car she was a passenger in was hit by a train in the village of Moreton-on-Lugg, Herefordshire in January 2010.

Mrs Harding's husband Mark, who was driving the car, suffered serious injuries in the collision which happened when the crossing's barriers were raised by mistake.

• UK
• Network Rail

Four Network Rail directors have been awarded long-term incentive plan bonuses of around £150,000 each, the company announced

• UK
• Transport
• Network Rail

This is the train which derailed near Bargoed this morning following a landslip.

Around 10 passengers were aboard the 6.10am Rhymney - Barry Island train when it hit debris resulting from fallen trees between Brithdir and Bargoed.

All passengers have now been safely removed from the train. There are no reported injuries.

• UK
• Bargoed
• Rhymney

Network Rail has called the government's announcement of the HS2 extension a "game-changer" for Britain's railway network. Chief executive David Higgins said:

Unprecedented growth in the last ten years has seen passenger journeys grow by 50 per cent to almost 1.5bn a year and that number is set to continue to grow. More people use the railways today than at any time since the Second World War, on a network half the size it was then ...

This is a rare chance to stop playing catch-up on capacity.

He added that Network Rail was already planning to ensure that HS2 would integrate with the existing network with as little disruption as possible.

• UK
• Network Rail
• HS2