Alan Hyde: A tragedy which changed Britain's railways

On an ordinary October day, GNER's 12.10 London-to-Leeds service came off the tracks as it was travelling round a bend near Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, at 115mph. Four passengers in the restaurant carriage lost their lives and many other people were injured, including train crew.

Sunday will, therefore, be a day of remembrance.

At the time, I was GNER's head of communications. In the office our pagers started buzzing with the terrible news and we had very little opportunity to assess the situation before the phones started ringing. Journalists wanted to know what had happened, why and who was to blame. Holding statements were issued based on the bare facts available at the time.

A decision was quickly made to take GNER's chief executive, Christopher Garnett, from our York HQ to the site by helicopter. He was accompanied by Railtrack's route director.

On the journey, they agreed, as the cause of the crash was not yet known, that they would stand shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the press pack near the scene of the carnage, which had been cordoned off by

the police.

Christopher was clearly distraught by what he saw. His over-riding concern was for the welfare of passengers and crew. He later visited the injured and bereaved in hospital and at the welfare centres that had been set up. He attended the funerals. He acted not just out of duty but with a genuine compassion for those involved.

There was intense speculation late into the night as to the cause of the tragedy – was it train, track or terrorism? At GNER, we momentarily feared that an episode a couple of years earlier might have repeated itself, when a train had partially derailed in Bedfordshire after a wheel shattered. Exhaustive safety checks had found no further faults.

For a while, some were also concerned that GNER's protracted bid for a new 20-year franchise, in competition with Virgin, could collapse if it was found to have contributed to the cause of the Hatfield disaster.

However, early the following morning Railtrack issued a statement confirming that a broken rail was the likely reason. And a new, spine-chilling phrase entered the everyday lexicon – gauge corner cracking.

This led to an avalanche of speed restrictions across the entire rail network as urgent maintenance checks were carried out. Britain's railway was brought to its knees as journey times became horrendous and passengers switched to car or planes. An industry regulator went so far as to say that the railway was suffering from a "collective nervous breakdown".

To add to the almost apocalyptic picture, the disruption coincided with severe flooding and the foot-and-mouth plague.

It was a case of business survival for many train operators, whose parent companies had to dig deep into their corporate pockets as rail revenues drained away. More importantly, it was a terrible time for those who continued to travel by train, despite the magnificent efforts of frontline railway staff to look after them.

In the media, hard news gave way to analysis of the issues behind the tragedy.

It became clear that Railtrack had little understanding of either the condition or capacity of its assets. The speed restrictions remained for months. Regional prosperity suffered. In crisis management terms, it became a marathon not a sprint. Recovery was a long and laborious journey.

There was also speculation that Railtrack's governance as a plc had contributed to the disaster and that it was more concerned with shareholder value than safety.

I have to say that, in my 12 years in the railways, I never saw any evidence of profits being put before safety. It is in no-one's interests to compromise on safety.

Ultimately, Hatfield led directly to the demise of Railtrack and the creation of Network Rail, a not-for-dividend company set up by government.

In a crisis like this, everything a business stands for is put under the most intense scrutiny. A company sinks or swims by its people, its vision and its values. Reputation can be won or lost.

The sense of collective endeavour, family spirit and cultural resilience at GNER was remarkable. Although we had rehearsed emergency plans, our response was based largely on cultural instinct – doing the right thing at the right time and counting the cost later.

It helps to prepare for a crisis and there are some golden communication rules for any company to follow: have a written plan and rehearse; say something sensible, and quickly, to fill the information vacuum; be honest, accessible and authoritative – don't duck hard truths; stick to the facts, don't speculate; brief industry experts who shape the story; co-ordinate internal and external activity; recognise when adrenalin gives way to exhaustion, so look after your team; expect the unexpected; review and rehearse again.

After Hatfield, the railway did eventually recover, punctuality slowly improved and passengers returned. However, recovery for others was much more difficult.

I'm sure that many of those involved in this terrible tragedy will pay silent tribute today, remembering the lives that were lost or changed forever on that fateful day.

Alan Hyde is managing director of O'Malley Hyde Communications (he is former head of communications at train operator GNER).