GNER boss Christopher Garnett describes the efforts taken in the wake of Hatfield to keep trains running and to keep people informed.

IMMEDIATELY after the tragic derailment at Hatfield, two things happened. We put our emergency response procedure into operation to try to establish what had happened, and I and other senior staff from GNER flew down by helicopter to see for ourselves.

It was a deeply shocking incident. One moment everybody was just doing their job, successfully running a train service, the next everything had changed. Our deepest sympathies go out to the victims and the families of all those involved.

On that day, GNER staff went to the hospital in Hatfield to help make arrangements for the relatives and friends of those who had been injured, and to help those who had been discharged get to where they wanted to be. That was our immediate priority.

Later, we had to think about our responsibilities to everybody else who needed to travel by train. It was possible to use a diversion via Hertford to begin running trains again. It meant half an hour extra on the journey because of the diversion and fewer trains running - we were down to about 80 per cent of normal service. That continued until Railtrack imposed speed restrictions which meant another half-hour on journey times.

As a matter of course at times of disruption, we make every effort to enable people to complete their journeys. That can mean laying on bus services where services fail to connect. We also have a group of managers at the main headquarters in York trying to get people to the right place and to sort out what kind of service we can provide. That can include arranging taxis, arranging hotel accommodation, changing ferry bookings, arranging alternative flights where necessary.

I have been tremendously impressed by the amazing professionalism, dedication and commitment that GNER staff have shown since the terrible accident at Hatfield. Part-time staff have been working full-time, full-time staff are working overtime and volunteers have come out of their offices to help look after passengers on stations and trains.

We are also making sure that on occasions when we are asking people not to travel on a particular day, they get a refund or their tickets will be valid on other days.

One of the most difficult areas is seat reservations. Of course in a situation where we are cancelling trains at short notice we are getting people who would have been travelling on two trains on the same train, with the same seat reservation. We would just ask people to try and be patient. Passengers may well be feeling a sense of frustration at what has happened since the Hatfield derailment, and may be asking why it is taking so long for things to get back to normal. We expect that Railtrack will reopen the line at Hatfield soon and will remove the speed restrictions on other parts of the line as quickly as possible. In the meantime, I hope passengers will understand that we are doing our very best in difficult circumstances.