LONDON -- The recent rail crash near Hatfield, north of London, that resulted in the deaths of four people was caused by a cracked rail. The crash occurred almost a year after the even more serious crash near London's Paddington Station. These accidents have once again highlighted the need for higher levels of investment in rail track, signaling and rail coaches.
Railways in Britain have suffered from years of underinvestment and neglect. The last government's privatization plans were intended to halt the decline, but the way privatization was carried out worsened rather than improved the situation. The railway network is owned and maintained by a privatized monopoly called Railtrack. Rail services are operated by a series of companies who have been granted operating franchises. They pay Railtrack to use the system. The only real competition for these services comes from road and air.
Railtrack and the operating companies are overseen by a regulator and a strategic rail authority answerable to the Department of the Environment, which includes transport and is part of the mega-department under Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. The weaknesses in the system are recognized, but yet another reorganization at this stage might only make matters worse.