An InterCity 225 passing the memorial garden created next to the East Coast Main Line for the four people who died in the Hatfield rail crash

The Hatfield rail crash was a railway accident on 17 October 2000, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK. Although the accident resulted in fewer deaths than other accidents, it exposed the major stewardship shortcomings of the privatised national railway infrastructure company Railtrack and the failings of the regulatory oversight which the company displayed in its initial years (principally a failure to ensure that the company had a sound knowledge of the condition of its assets) and ultimately triggered its partial renationalisation.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatfield rail crash