Several senior managers are to be charged over the Hatfield rail disaster, in which a Sussex man and three others died.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said today that six men from Network Rail and contractor Balfour Beatty should be charged with manslaughter and an offence under the Health And Safety At Work Act.

The GNER London-Leeds express derailed in Hertfordshire on October 17 2000 because of a broken rail, half a mile south of Hatfield station, Herts.

The Sussex victim was Stephen Arthur, 46, of Pease Pottage, near Crawley, who worked in the aircraft leasing business.

The others were airline pilot Robert Alcorn, 37, of New Zealand; advertising executive Peter Monkhouse, 50, of Leeds; and solicitor Leslie Gray, 43, of Nottingham.

The accident led to a network-wide inspection of tracks and speed restriction on trains while work took place.

Train punctuality has still not returned to pre-Hatfield levels and is not expected to for some years.