The rail industry should minimise the delay and inconvenience following mishaps on the network by improving co-ordination with emergency services and giving passengers better information, the government's spending watchdog said.

The National Audit Office report published today says that the 800,000 incidents on the railways in the financial year 2006-07 delayed passenger trains by 14m minutes, costing those delayed at least £1bn. The report defines an incident as any unexpected event causing a delay of at least three minutes to a train.