Network Rail - plans

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Network Rail says it will cut train delays by 15% in £47bn plan

From The Guardian

Network Rail says it will deliver a 15% reduction in train delays and almost 1,000 new services every day by 2021 under a £47.1bn five-year plan.

But there are no fresh promises of major projects after massive budgetary overruns in the last five-year plan left many schemes abandoned or delayed. The bulk of the 209-24 budget will be spent on maintenance, operations and renewals to make the most of the existing railway.

[grahame]

Can we have 8 of those on the Swindon to Solent run please - 4 each way per day, upping the service from 9 to 13 on the least served section of the line.   Odd that Network Rail are said to be delivering the services - we've been talking to the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) and DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) ...

[ChrisB]

delivering the train *paths* I think.

There will be project investment - the Grauniad forgets that CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024) onwards, projects get authorised piecemeal, once they prove their worth, rather than at the start of each CP.

[ChrisB]

Report comes from ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) press release

ORR seeks views on Network Rail’s strategic business plans for CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024)

 Network Rail strategic business plans (SBPs) for CP6 are now available on its website. In a letter that we have issued today, we are inviting you to give us your views on any high-level and material issues regarding the plans, to inform our assessment of the SBPs. Our SBP assessment will lead to our draft determination in June 2018, setting out our proposed decisions on what Network Rail should deliver in CP6 and the funding it should have for this. We will consult on our draft determination over the summer.

 As set out in the letter, we welcome views by close on 6 March 2018.  We recognise that this is a relatively short period in which to respond. However, if comments are to inform our SBP assessment, we will need your feedback by this point. We are also only seeking high-level points.

 You may also wish to be aware that we have made some minor updates to our PR18 timetable.

 This forms part of our 2018 periodic review (PR18). PR18 will play an important role in determining what Network Rail should deliver in control period 6 (which we expect to cover 2019-2024), as well as the funding and incentives needed to support this.

[ChrisB]

and the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) document is here

[ChrisB]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Network Rail to put new projects on hold

Network Rail is to move away from big projects in its next five-year funding period in favour of spending its cash on maintaining its current network.

Britain's rail and track operator has published its plan from 2019 to 2024.

The company could spend up to £47bn, with the amount set aside for new schemes falling by 33% and the total for current improvements rising by 25%.

It also hopes to increase the number of female employees by 50%, or more than 3,000, to about 9,500.

Network Rail currently employs 38,000 people.

'More ambitious'

Chief executive Mark Carne told the BBC that the new funding period would be "more focused on the day-to-day operations".

He said: "The last five years has been about huge projects, like Thameslink, Crossrail, Great Western electrification and Edinburgh-Glasgow electrification. The next control period is slightly different."

Mr Carne denied the move was a backwards step, adding: "I don't think it's less ambitious at all, I think it's in a way more ambitious.

"We have 20,000 miles of track and 4,500,000 people every day who depend on the railway and I think it should be our primary responsibility to make sure that we run that network reliably and efficiently for them."
Network Rail is to move away from big projects in its next five-year funding period in favour of spending its cash on maintaining its current network.

Britain's rail and track operator has published its plan from 2019 to 2024.

The company could spend up to £47bn, with the amount set aside for new schemes falling by 33% and the total for current improvements rising by 25%.

It also hopes to increase the number of female employees by 50%, or more than 3,000, to about 9,500.

Network Rail currently employs 38,000 people.

'More ambitious'

Chief executive Mark Carne told the BBC that the new funding period would be "more focused on the day-to-day operations".

He said: "The last five years has been about huge projects, like Thameslink, Crossrail, Great Western electrification and Edinburgh-Glasgow electrification. The next control period is slightly different."

Mr Carne denied the move was a backwards step, adding: "I don't think it's less ambitious at all, I think it's in a way more ambitious.

"We have 20,000 miles of track and 4,500,000 people every day who depend on the railway and I think it should be our primary responsibility to make sure that we run that network reliably and efficiently for them."

A total of £18.5bn will go into the operation and maintenance side of the business and a similar amount will be allocated for renewing and replacing old infrastructure like signalling systems.

There is £10.1bn set aside for new projects, with most of that likely to go on improving the line between Manchester and Leeds.

That would probably go on upgrading existing tunnels, bridges and lines rather than a new Northern Powerhouse Railway.

The previous plan was called the biggest investment in Britain's railways since the Victorian era, with large-scale electrification supposed to reduce the cost of trains, increase reliability and reduce carbon emissions.

However, projects around the country have been shelved and Mr Carne added: "We've discovered the cost of electrification of the network is very expensive. It's very difficult to do because we have so little time to intervene and work on the network at night. So it's cost more to do that. In the meantime the trains are getting better."
_________________________________________
Analysis: Victoria Fritz, BBC transport correspondent

At first it was a footnote.

Four years on, the boss of Network Rail, Mark Carne, may regret calling an accountancy change statistical.

Transferring Network Rail's debt to the national balance sheet exposed its reliance on the money markets to cover shortfalls in funding.

With the figleaf gone, the appetite to embark on big trophy projects has diminished.

For now, Network Rail is going back to the bread and butter business of maintaining and renewing what it already owns. With greater funding comes greater scrutiny.

A recently-launched body, the System Operator, sits within Network Rail to assess the feasibility of rail franchises as they come up for renewal.

It is likely to have a busy few years ahead.
____________________________________________________

Mr Carne is stepping down from his £880,000 a year post later in 2018 and said: "By the time I leave I will have been in the job for four-and-a-half years. To do more than one five-year control period would be too much."

He welcomed the idea that he could be replaced by a woman.

"I think it would be great," he said. "We are hugely focused on increasing gender diversity and all forms of diversity in the rail industry and wouldn't it be wonderful to have a woman chief executive of the company?

"In the last four years alone, we have increased the number of women working in our company by 42% so we're really focused on this.

"I know, and I see it every day, that gender diverse teams just perform better than homogenous teams, so this is about great business performance as well as the moral and ethical responsibility to be fair."

Does seem that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) has pretty much given up on developing new projects in CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024)....bang go any new stations etc
 

[SandTEngineer]

There will be project investment - the Grauniad forgets that CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024) onwards, projects get authorised piecemeal, once they prove their worth, rather than at the start of each CP.

Trouble is there won't be any engineers to deliver it because they have all a) Retired; b) Been made redundant; c) Left the industry for other parts of the world.....

This is potentially the third cycle like this in the near 50 years I have been in the S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) industry, and once the skills have gone they are gone for good.

But, hey-ho, its only a plan and hasn't been agreed by ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) yet......

The publication of the Strategic Business Plan (SBP) is a major milestone in the ongoing process to determine Network Rail’s funding requirements for the five years to 2024 (Control Period 6, CP6). The plan represents Network Rail’s initial, but detailed view, following the publication of Governments’ (England & Wales and Scotland) high level output specifications (HLOS^▸ (High Level Output Specification)) and statements of funds available (SoFA). The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) will now review the plan and make a draft determination of Network Rail’s funding needs in June, and a final determination in the autumn.

...oh, and the link to the SBP on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site is broken.  A bit like NR itself, actually......

[stuving]

...oh, and the link to the SBP on the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site is broken.  A bit like NR itself, actually......

I did wonder if they'd felt the need to hide it, but if you do a search (and after two pointless further links) you get to this page of downloadable PDFs. There's a distinct shortage of lists of things to do with dates and costs, but then previous SBPs were the same. But there are some, and for the Western route this is the bit most of interest here:

CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) funded projects to GRIP^▸ (Guide to Railway Investment Projects) 1-8 that will finish in CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024)
The following schemes are CP5 schemes which have some final delivery expected in CP6. These schemes are post-FID and are included in this plan:
 Stations – Access for All (AfA)
 GWEp close-out/snagging
 A2A Enhanced Access Points
 0-12mp CMEs and electronic securing
 A2A OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") campaign changes
 Crossrail close-out / snagging
 Filton Bank Four Tracking
 Interim Gatelines (Bristol Temple Meads)
 Bristol Parkway snagging
 DNO^▸ (Distribution Network Operator) works
 Par and Tavistock MDUs

The table below shows the current position with respect to the “Hendy Tail”. The schemes in this table are still subject to a final investment decision and are
not included in this plan:
W001c Reading Independent Feeder (Bramley)
W015 Bristol East Junction
CR007 Acton to Willesden Electrification
W001a Filton Bank Electrification
W001a Wootton Bassett Jn to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) Electrification
W001a Didcot to Oxford Electrification
W002a Western IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) Capability
W003a Henley and Windsor Electrification (Thames Valley Branches)
W003b Southcote to Basingstoke Electrification
DNO clearance works associated with the following electrification schemes:
W003a, W003b, CR007
W004 Thames Valley EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) Capability
W005 Western Rail Link to Heathrow
W006 Oxford Corridor Phase 2
W008 Bristol Temple Meads Capacity -platforms 0 &1 in Midland Shed
W009 West of England DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) Capability
W014 West of England Platform Extensions

PS: I assume that when items on that last list are approved, they will be funded from the roughly £10Bn of enhancements funding in the SoFA and in this SBP. Mind you, I've not found any words that say exactly that. 

[ChrisB]

I thought the branches electrification had *all been cancelled? Seems Windsor & Henley still have a chance?

[SandTEngineer]

STUVING, thanks for finding the SBP links.  A little bit of reading to do now.....

[simonw]

Not a good announcement really.

Each CP should announce and implement

• a major project, for example rebuilding the Brighton - London Victoria line to offer double deck and four track stretches to dramatically increase train and passenger capacity.
• A continuing commitment to fully electrify all main and connect lines.
• A list of major work that is needed to improve capacity and resilience

A maintenance CP with a few dozen small projects shows a lack of ambition and commitment to improve our rail infrastructure

[stuving]

Not a good announcement really.

Each CP should announce and implement

• a major project, for example rebuilding the Brighton - London Victoria line to offer double deck and four track stretches to dramatically increase train and passenger capacity.
• A continuing commitment to fully electrify all main and connect lines.
• A list of major work that is needed to improve capacity and resilience

A maintenance CP with a few dozen small projects shows a lack of ambition and commitment to improve our rail infrastructure

Network Rail are doing doing what they were told to. The decision to remove major projects from the 5-year CP regime was made some time ago, and confirmed in the HLOS^▸ (High Level Output Specification). The funding in the SoFA followed that, but was more generous than that implies - a big increase in the renewals budget, to reflect the backlog that's built up.

As to why NR^» (Network Rail - home page) wrote the SBPs as if they weren't just obeying orders, but it was all their own idea, I haven't a clue. 

[SandTEngineer]

Personally, having speed read the Western Route SBP, its virtually confirmed to me that major projects are going to be run by others with NR^» (Network Rail - home page) as the 'at arms length' receiver of the finished product.  Good news, and about time as well.....

[stuving]

One of the side effects of churning out so many words is that you write something like this and don't spot it in the proof-reading (from WRSP P 103):

Level crossing safety reduction and asset improvement programme:

[ChrisB]

Strewth, the high level doc was hard to find!