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Hatfield Rail Essay

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Due to these speed restrictions the train timetables all over Britain fell into chaos. Originally Railtrack claimed that the timetables would be back to normal by the November following the crash however they then pushed back this date to December, then February and continued to push back this date for up to year in some areas. This caused widespread delays which disrupted commutes for many people across the country. The necessary rail checks that were taking place further increased these delays. After the introduction of these speed restrictions, commutes that originally took one hour and thirty-five minutes could turn into a journey of up to eight hours long. This became commonplace after the accident at Hatfield and the pandemonium that Railtrack sent Britain’s railways into. The anarchy …show more content…

There could have been rails across the country in a similar or damaged condition to the one that fractured at Hatfield, which may have been left unnoticed without the crash. It potentially stopped further accidents happening due to the same problem, saving a large amount of time and money that may have been needed to deal with future problems. The Hatfield Rail crash lead to several changes, one of these being a new bill being passed that lead to a change in the corporate manslaughter law within the UK. The new bill called for the law to be amended so that companies would be prosecuted for their negligence in cases akin to the Hatfield train crash. The new laws for corporate manslaughter found an employer guilty if they failed to maintain their premises. So, if another event were to occur similar to the crash at Hatfield, the rail company responsible for the rails would be prosecuted since the site would count as the company’s

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