Yes, NR pays out penalties to TOCs for any incidents that are not attributed to the TOC.
NR can pursue third parties, but for failry obvious reasons often does not (1) or is not successfull (2).
1) for example… “NR bankrupts pensioner“ (who had a tree in their garden that fell on the line)
2) Depends on the insurance of the guilty party, and the concept of “consequential loss”.
The way insurance works with trees is interesting. For example, a tree from my garden fell on my neighbour's shed, but they had to claim on their (buildings) insurance to make good the damage. That insurer covered them and they are happy with the new shed. As you would expect, that insurer then sought to recoup its loss from me, but they could only succeed had they been able to demonstrate that I had been negligent. The offending tree had been inspected and reduced in height two years previously, precisely to reduce the risk to the neighbour and this was ample evidence to refute the claim (and I had all the relevant paper work).
In the Network Rail example, to make a claim they would probably have had to have previously drawn the potentially dangerous tree to the pensioner's attention in writing and they would then have had to ignore the warning for negligence to possibly be demonstrated. Even then, assuming the pensioner had buildings insurance, they would likely be covered for third party liability to Network Rail (and then it would just be a negotiation about the amount with the pensioner not involved). The pensioner would likely see their premium rise, but not to anything like the amount the insurer would have to pay to cover a significant disruption.
