Railtrack has told millions of commuters their trains would be back running on time from today.

The company says it has hit the deadline set by the Rail Authority to ensure services are running to their usual schedule.

But it says it may take several weeks to prove the target for punctuality has been reached.

The deadline was installed by rail regulator Tom Winsor after the Hatfield crash near Stevenage, Herts, seven months ago.

Emergency schedules were introduced after the tragedy, which killed four people, to allow engineering and repair work to be carried out across the network.

Railtrack is in for a tough week. Its annual results are published on Thursday and losses of about £400 million are expected.

Updated: 13.20 Monday, May 21