RAIL chiefs in the North-East who are overseeing a massive rail renewal programme say they are determined to learn the lessons of the Hatfield disaster.

About 180 miles of track nationally has been identified as being at risk from gauge corner cracking, the problem which caused the recent derailment at Hatfield.

During the weekend, the rail teams were at Newton Aycliffe and Ferryhill, in south Durham, to replace large sections of high-speed corner on the East Coast Main Line.

Railtrack director Nick Pollard apologised for the inconvenience, but said the work was essential

He said: "This is precautionary work to stop cracking developing, as it did at Hatfield. We want to eradicate that altogether. For the whole railway team, and particularly the North-East team, Hatfield has been an incredibly distressing experience.

"It's nothing like as distressing for those who were bereaved or injured, but we feel that pain as well, and we are not going back through that again. We've got to learn those lessons - and learn them very fast and hard."

About 20 miles of track are being replaced on the network every weekend, and the bulk of the work should be completed by Christmas.

Mr Pollard said that this would be the last time a programme on this scale was necessary, but that work was also ongoing all year round. He said: "This is a one-off, but it's nothing unusual for these teams to be out renewing rails every weekend.

"It will be essential that we change rails, and it may be that from Hatfield some of the lessons aren't about the frequency of renewal to some of the rails in the network, it may be about the type of rail.

"Some of the rails we have been using in the UK over the past year are a much higher weight than they used to be, and that's gradually becoming the standard as we work through the network."

He added: "I'm sorry for all the inconvenience to people and appreciate this doesn't help at all, but in the long term it will help, because it means the railways are more safe and reliable."