Railtrack will pay train operators £150m compensation over the Hatfield tragedy, it was revealed today.

The news of Railtrack's compensation offer came as the company announced a 31 per cent slump in profits, and disclosed it had spent a further £100m on urgent repairs in the wake of the crash, which claimed four lives.

York-based GNER stands to win the lion's share of compensation.

Travellers have already received taxis, hotels and replacement buses paid for by a GNER emergency fund as the company struggled to get them around the network.

A spokesman for GNER said it was too early to comment on whether the payout would be sufficient, but Railtrack said the amount was an estimate and could rise.

Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett said: "The detail of that (the cash award), and how it gets through to the passengers, will be worked out in the next couple of weeks".

A GNER spokesman said today: "We are taking care of our passengers now - counting the cost and asking Railtrack to fulfil their obligations can come later."

Pre-tax profits at Railtrack in the six months to September 30 were £175 million, down from £252 million.

Meanwhile, it is expected to take betwen three and four weks to clear a mile and a half of track affected by a landslip in Heck, 11 miles north of Doncaster.

"The land has turned into trifle and we will need 200,000 tonnes of soil and aggregate to rebuild it. It is unbelievable," said a Railtrack spokesman.

There are still more than 100 speed restrictions on sections of track used by GNER, doubling the journey time from York to the capital to around 4 hours.

Hourly direct services are now running north from York.

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