"Network Rail 'must do better', warns ORR" - Railnews (13/09/2013)

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From Railnews:

Network Rail 'must do better', warns ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)

Talks are set to take place between the Government and Network Rail, after a critical report from the Office of Regulation outlined flaws in the company's stewardship of the railway. The ORR's chief executive has accused it of 'facing many problems of its own making'.

Among Network Rail's shortcomings is a lack of measures to improve drainage, which is increasingly becoming an issue after heavy rain caused serious floods on railways over the past year or two. The number of landslips has also risen.

The ORR says other problems include insufficient knowledge of assets and backlogs in the civil renewals programme, and that 'the reliability of information Network Rail holds on the condition of its tracks, bridges and other assets is not as good as it should be'.

The regulator concedes that it has seen some improvement, but warns that there remains 'a good deal of work ahead for the company to be as efficient as it can be'. This latest assessment also highlights that the renewals backlog tends to affect performance. Poor performance on some key routes, particularly the West Coast Main Line, continues to be a major bone of contention.

ORR chief executive Richard Price said: ^Network Rail has been entrusted with large amounts of public and passengers^ money, which, if invested well, should deliver the levels of efficiency and punctuality it promised to deliver. However, the company is falling short of expectations at the moment. It is facing many problems of its own making, having failed to deliver plans to renew Britain^s rail network, with delayed works now affecting performance. The company must urgently catch-up and address the problems which are causing disruption to passengers and target its work as efficiently as possible. This is vital as it heads towards its new five-year delivery plan with more stretching targets.^

There is also some good news for the company. The ORR acknowledges that Network Rail has made progress in several areas, such as concentrating signalling and control centres on far fewer sites and also reducing its use of sub-contractors. These moves are helping to reduce expenditure now and in the longer term.

The report also highlights that Network Rail is on course to deliver its rail enhancement programme. The ORR said that over the past year the company had completed the upgrade of a route across south London so that London Overground trains can continue from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction, electrified the Paisley Canal line in Glasgow and lengthened platforms to increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line.

Rail minister Norman Baker is expected to meet chief executive David Higgins to deliver the core message that Network Rail 'must do better'. Mr Baker told the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page): "I am, as I think the rest of the travelling public will be, dismayed to learn that Network Rail is still failing to tackle deterioration in the punctuality and reliability of the network -- a matter I have regularly raised with them. Fare payers and tax payers are investing heavily in the future of the railways and they need to have the confidence that Network Rail is maximising the impact every pound has."

Network Rail has yet to respond to the ORR's findings.

Meanwhile, former oil executive Mark Carne will replace David Higgins in 2014, taking full control on 1 April after a changeover period. David Higgins let it be known that he had decided to move on before the company's AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) in July this year.

[Lee]

A pat on the back from elsewhere, though. From Network Rail (no, they haven't given themselves a pat on the back, read on...)

Network Rail wins three awards from Rail Freight Group

Network Rail^s freight team are celebrating after the company won three awards ^ including the prestigious Business of the Year award - from the Rail Freight Group (RFG).

The RFG said the company had helped to boost the freight sector through its renewed focus on working closely with business and developing new processes to improve performance.

The company also picked up the Customer Care award and was part of a team that won the Project of the Year award as part of a partnership with Atkins and Balfour Beatty on the Nuneaton north chord.

Network Rail's director of freight, Paul McMahon, said: "I'm delighted the efforts of our team and the company as a whole have been recognised by the RFG.

^Many people from across Network Rail were involved in that success and it recognises the efforts we are making to keep freight flowing smoothly.

^Rail carries increasing volumes of freight, which is vital to the economy, and we remain focused on improving its performance and improving capacity.^

One of the awards was for Network Rail^s Strategic Freight Corridors project - a specific way of analysing freight performance that looks at the end-to-end journey of a freight service as it crosses Network Rail route and area boundaries. The corridors track our customers^ key flows and have helped us to align our resources with those of the operators. The SFC concept has promoted a targeted investment of time and money in improving freight performance.

Opened in October last year, the ^28m Nuneaton north chord saw almost 2 km of new track linking the existing cross-country rail route from Felixstowe to Nuneaton with the West Coast Main Line.

Notes to editors

The rail freight industry directly contributes ^870 million to the nation^s economy every year, but supports an economic output of ^5.9 billion, six times its direct turnover.

In 2011/12 rail freight transported 101.7 million tonnes of goods worth over ^30 billion.

Over the next decade, we expect freight demand to grow by at least 30%, the equivalent of 240 additional freight trains a day, and by as much as 140% over the next 30 years.

On average a gallon of fuel will move a tonne of goods 246 miles on rail but only 88 miles by road.

Each freight train takes about 60 HGVs off the roads.

Well, maybe just a little one, then...

[SandTEngineer]

Well a very good example of NR^» (Network Rail - home page) failings is the flooding mitigation work at Cowley Bridge Junction (Exeter).  The signalling location cabinets have still not been raised above the flood level despite the elevated platforms having been installed for some 6 months now.  Very bad weather predicted for the SW this weekend.................