A union leader last night called on former Railtrack boss Gerald Corbett to hand back his pay-off after it was confirmed that he received £1m from the beleaguered company.

Railtrack released details of the deal in its annual report only days after publication of Lord Cullen's report into the Paddington train crash which claimed 31 lives.

Mr Corbett, who became chairman of Woolworths earlier this year after resigning from Railtrack in November, received compensation for loss of office of £444,000.

Under the terms of Mr Corbett's contract with Railtrack, he elected to receive his enhanced pension entitlement as a lump sum.

Railtrack said in its report that the company calculated, and an actuary confirmed, that this amounted to £594,141, net of income tax.

The compensation for loss of office included a sum for loss of options under Railtrack's share savings scheme. He also received other benefits of £12,000.

Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers' union Aslef, said: ''This farewell package for Mr Corbett would have been obscene at the best of times, but in the week of publication of Lord Cullen's report it is grotesque.

''A tiny fraction of his ill-gotten gains spent on re-siting signal 109 would have saved 31 lives. Decency demands that Mr Corbett return this pay-off to Railtrack immediately.''

He stepped down from Railtrack on November 17 last year, a month after the Hatfield rail crash, in which four people died.

Last night, one of the passengers who escaped the Paddington crash, Alan Macro from Reading, said: "The idea that he resigns and gets this huge pay-off is disgraceful.''