YESTERDAY'S tragic rail accident at Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, is a huge body blow to an industry which has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years.

As the extent of the disaster became clear, many in the industry could scarcely believe yet another fatal crash had scarred the national network.

The disaster also piles on the agony for beleaguered Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, who has his own political problems without now having to preside over further rail chaos.

Mr Byers will be as anxious as anyone to find out the cause of the crash following his decision to put Railtrack into administration last October.

There have been fears that safety would be impaired during the administration period, but rail industry experts have maintained that with no shareholders to look after, Railtrack has been able to concentrate exclusively on its core job of maintaining track, signalling and stations.

But anything which points the finger at poor track maintenance or signalling problems is bound to be bad news for Railtrack and Mr Byers.

Passengers will now wonder just what else can go possibly go wrong.

Certainly, the recent history of the railways has resulted in major upheaval, major disasters and major disruption.

The upheaval began with the Conservatives' decision to privatise the railways, creating a soon-to-be privatised track authority, Railtrack, and 25 individual passenger train companies.

Privatisation led to a serious hold-up in investment in the system. It was years before some lines got new trains.

Serious accidents at Watford, Southall and Paddington followed in the late 1990s.

The then Transport Secretary, John Prescott, was forced to act. There were a series of summit conferences and initiatives and a tightening of safety regulations.

But within a year, a broken rail at Hatfield had led to a derailment which resulted in four deaths - and the recriminations began again.

Under extreme pressure, Railtrack embarked upon a nationwide track-checking operation. Hundreds of speed restrictions were imposed and these, coupled with terrible winter floods, brought the industry to its knees.

It was all too much for Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett, who resigned.

It seemed things could not get worse - but they did when a freak road accident caused a crash on the East Coast Mainline near Selby, in North Yorkshire in February last year, killing ten people.

This put back a return to normal services on the line for some weeks and it was not until Easter 2001 that most lines began to run anything like pre-Hatfield services again.

The events of September 11 in the US and the subsequent war on terrorism appeared to provide the railways with a chance to recover as they were well out of the limelight.

But in October last year a bombshell was dropped when Mr Byers announced he was taking steps to place Railtrack in administration.

He said the company was in ''financial meltdown'' and he was not prepared to provide any more public money.

In the months since, the rail industry has had to struggle on against a background of an infrastructure company in administration and under the auspices of a Transport Secretary fighting for his political life.

Yet despite all this, passengers have kept faith with the railways. Numbers continue to grow.

All involved in the industry will now hope that customers' will stick with the shell-shocked network.