London - Railtrack announced yesterday it faced a likely £600 million bill for restoring the railways following the Hatfield crash. The rail infrastructure company said the cost would be borne entirely by its shareholders and the company was now "pretty stretched".
But train companies welcomed news that they would be getting around £400 million from Railtrack in compensation. The companies would use this money to compensate passengers and to recoup the £165 million train companies lost in revenue since the October crash.