Rail firm's £500,000-a-day bill

The East Coast mainline train operator said the magnitude of speed restrictions in the wake of the Hatfield crash is having a heavy toll.

It is running only half its normal services, which would usually see up to 35,000 passengers paying up to £1m total ticket prices each day.

A sizeable amount of this money will be recouped when rail operators meet Railtrack.

The sum will be decided at the monthly compensations board where operators are refunded if a normal service is not possible because of speed restrictions and track repairs.

The heavy losses are expected to continue as passengers abandon train journeys because of lengthy delays and cancelled services.

A GNER spokesman said: "We will not know how much it will be until it's over and we get a better picture of people who have sought refunds, and any toll on future patronage."

The revelation came on the day that train passengers were promised working timetables by next week as services begin to recover from the Hatfield crash and the recent floods.

The pledge came after Prime Minister Tony Blair met rail chiefs. The top-level summit also led to agreement that a compensation package for passengers would be arranged as soon as possible.

But travellers can expect delays to carry on at least until early in the new year.

Stewart Francis, chairman of the Rail Passengers Council, said afterwards that the rail industry had to work hard to restore passenger confidence, which had been "shaken" since last month's Hatfield derailment which claimed four lives.

He said: "The Prime Minister clearly has grasped the enormous frustration that passengers have felt."

Transport Minister Lord Macdonald said: "The Prime Minister has made clear his determination to ensure that the rail network gets back to normal as soon as possible."

Shadow Strategic Rail Authority chairman Sir Alastair Morton said he felt that there was a sense of gathering momentum