RAILTRACK began its rehabilitation with some promising words yesterday.

John Robinson, chairman for only four weeks, invited survivors of disasters and relatives of victims to a personal meeting during which he offered a formal apology.

He said the company was moving towards "a culture of zero tolerance of unsafe acts", and that he would look at how senior managers were rewarded in the future - one major source of public annoyance has been that directors have left with huge pay-outs despite having done little to improve the safety of our railways.

It is, of course, very easy for a new broom to use sympathetic words while brushing the failings of the past under the carpet. The most pertinent words yesterday came from a survivor of Ladbroke Grove: "I'm happy with what's been said but words are cheap - the proof of the pudding will be in the eating."

While talking of senior managers' rewards, Mr Robinson touched on an issue that goes beyond even the safety of the railways. He said: "We are making a new start on executive remuneration to ensure that executives in the future will be paid in a manner that reflects both their financial obligations to the shareholder, but also their public service duties."

It is the issue which threatens to be the abiding one of Labour's second term of office: how to marry the interests of private finance with the demands of the public consumer.

Failure to address this issue is why the new hospital in Durham City is so in the news. The feeling is that the private company is making a mint out of providing a hospital with fewer beds, and patients and staff are powerless amid a mass of contracts to force anyone to make changes.

Yesterday the only way that rail service users could legally get their voices heard at Railtrack's annual meeting was by buying a stake in the company and becoming shareholders.

If the Government is to win the nation over to its plans to use far more of these public-private partnerships, it has to devise a better way for public concerns to be raised in private boardrooms.

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers thought he had found the solution when he offered GNER a two-year franchise to run the East Coast Main Line. He reasoned that if the company doesn't live up to public expectations, it will soon be out on its ear.

However, the short-term franchise means that GNER cannot afford to help Railtrack up-grade the line, and so the company's "public service duties" had received a backwards shunt before Mr Robinson had even uttered his fine words.