RAILTRACK is bracing itself for a compensation bill of tens of millions of pounds from train companies and passengers over the chaos on the network.

As teams worked around the clock to repair suspect tracks, officials were facing up to the fact that their original estimate of £1m a day may have been hopelessly optimistic.

Estimates put the compensation bill for passengers inconvenienced by delays at more than £10m.

But it is the bill from train companies which could really cost Railtrack a fortune. As part of its contract with each train company, Railtrack has to pay compensation if it fails to make the network available.

Railtrack officials normally meet train bosses once a month to agree a compensation figure for delays due to broken rails, points and signal failures.

This is off-set against delays caused by train breakdowns.

However, the unprecedented chaos caused by Railtrack's safety blitz will leave the company facing huge claims.

One train operator said last night: "We've never encountered anything quite like this. It's going to be massive."

Another said: "We're going to have to concentrate our minds on where the money comes from and it could get quite ugly."

Virgin Rail said: "The enormity of the potential claims and the business we have lost is just beginning to hit us."

Operators in every region of Britain's beleaguered rail network reported delays over the weekend, with up to two hours added to long-distance journeys.

Hundreds of teams of engineers were still working on the country's rail network last night in an effort to ease travel problems facing passengers today.

Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett said he believed the network had "turned the corner" as he visited the site of the Hatfield crash last night.

But train companies continued to predict serious disruption as people return to work after the weekend.

"We decided to inspect every single site of gauge corner cracking this weekend, which was a tough call to make," said Mr Corbett. "But it was the right thing to do.

"It has severely affected passengers for which we truly apologise. It has been a dreadful week for passengers but they can rest assured that the railway is safe. This weekend I think we've turned the corner."

Mr Corbett also pledged there would be a full inquiry into newspaper reports yesterday that a rail maintenance firm put profits before safety.

Passengers on Northern Spirit trains are not greatly affected, but those travelling on GNER and Virgin services using the East Coast Mainline have been badly hit.

National director of the Rail Passengers Council, Anthony Smith, said: "The original predictions of it being over by Wednesday now appear optimistic and it's going to carry on for ten days, two weeks or longer.

"The closure of these lines has been an absolute disaster for the rail companies.

"I think £10m in passenger compensation could actually be an underestimate because to win the public relations battle, they've got to decide things in passengers' favour."

Many travellers who have had trains cancelled or delayed by more than two hours are likely to be entitled to full refunds.

On the roads, an AA spokesman said: "There is no hard evidence that the problems on the railways is leading to increased traffic.

"People take to the roads more this time of year anyway, but if confidence in the railways does decrease we expect to see more traffic."

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