Another blow to the railway's finances is the expensive safety recommendation made by Lord Cullen's inquiry into the Paddington rail crash.
After a rail crash in Britain in 2000, which killed four people, the rail authorities imposed speed restrictions and track inspections.
Britain has been toying with this for years, ever since the inquiry into the Clapham rail crash in 1988 recommended it.
Tuesday's disaster at Hatfield, in which four people died and 35 were hurt, was the third major rail crash in three years.
Survivors and relatives of victims of the Paddington rail crash have cautiously welcomed the publication of Lord Cullen's final report into the disaster.
We'd entered our dramatic Grayrigg Rail Crash re-union, where the family of the woman who died met up with the man who should have checked the points that led to the fatal derailment.
After the crash Network Rail said there had been a problem at the crossing a year ago, with the barrier rising and falling slowly, but it had been fixed and it was in full working order.
It's not clear if the accident caused the fracture or if the rail was broken before the crash, the NTSB's Earl Weener said.
The government has had a change of heart about rapidly expanding the high-speed rail network following a fatal crash of two high-speed trains in July.
Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, said the crash had been "entirely avoidable" and that the taxpayer would effectively "pick up the bill" for the fine.
The crash happened when a broken rail caused the derailment of a London-to-Leeds express train travelling at 117mph.
Federal officials have narrowed their probe into the cause of a May 17 derailment and train crash in Connecticut, saying a cracked rail joint where the first train slid off the tracks had been repaired by maintenance workers last month.
WSJ: Probe of Metro-North Derailment in Connecticut Focuses on Rail
Residents and rail passengers have called for extra safety measures at a rail crossing in Berkshire where seven people died in a crash.
BBC: Ufton Nervet crossing petition calls for safety measures
The theft of cables used for signalling, compounded by human error, caused the crash, said the head of South Africa's rail authority.
The accident followed a fatal high-speed railway crash last July that called into question the pace and quality of China's high-speed-rail buildout, which officials had touted as a signature program and a sign of the nation's rising technological might.
应用推荐