Something I learned a long time ago about politics is that politicians talk a lot. It is, of course, a prerequisite of being a politician at any level, if not 90% of the job description. Some talk because they feel they have something to say, others because they feel they have to say something. As I have begun to mature, however, I have realised that the office of chair of the Public Accounts Committee demands someone who is particularly fond of the sound of their own voice, especially since the telly cameras were allowed into their meetings. The previous incumbent (excumbent?),
barking Barking
MP▸ Margaret Hodge, was an absolute star in this regard. The spectacle of some poor unfortunate executive from any corporate body, public or private, being wire-brushed, debagged and radished live on the
BBC» with highlights on the 6 o'clock news, is an unedifying one, yet strangely compelling. That Mrs Hodge was born too late to be of service to the Spanish Inquisition is a loss to history and to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain - it would have been much more brutal and fun to watch. The new girl in town, Meg Helier, is shaping up nicely, and is clearly well-taught, in two senses of the phrase.
The PAC's latter-day version of the 15th century interrogations do, however, serve to make sure that the public purse-strings are not loosened lightly, and that those who have access to such funds are held to account for them. Or do they?
On Saturday Kitchen yesterday the special guest, BBC's dancing weather woman Carol Kirkwood (I would), was asked whether we would have snow for Christmas this year. "Ask me on Boxing Day", she answered. The point has been made earlier in this thread that the estimates for the electrification work were always likely to prove less than accurate to say the least, and it comes as no surprise to me to learn that the cost has spiralled. It is a long time since those estimates were drawn up, and the usual creep of inflation in material costs has taken its toll, though that alone could never explain the difference. The real cost will only be estimated with any degree of accuracy long after the first class 801 trundles into Swansea station.
There are a number of possible reasons as to why the cost of the job was so inaccurately estimated by National Rail and
DfT» .
- NR» is a flawed outfit with weak management, and does not have the expertise to do this sort of work effectively
- NR isn't weak, but realised at the time of producing estimated costs for the work that the real total would be unacceptable, both financially and politically, and deliberately under-estimated to ensure the project went ahead, safe in the knowledge that it would have to be completed once begun
- DfT were culpable of one or both of these lapses
- The actual work has proved much more complex than anticipated because of factors that should have been foreseen
- The actual work has proved much more complex than anticipated because of factors that could not have been foreseen until work began
- The actual work has proved much more complex than anticipated because the estimation process was deliberately kept light. This could be because the cost of finding the cost of every nut and bolt would have been horrendous instead of just enormous, money which could have ended up down the drain had the answer been too big to allow the project to continue
- ORR» is culpable for either not intervening when it should, or meddling when it shouldn't. (It seems in any case to be trying the old old method of trying to blame everybody else)
- The whole idea of the move to an electric GWR▸ has been lacking firm strategic direction at the higher political level for too long
- Contractors have not performed as they promised
Nothing I have read suggests that the PAC's machinations have gone any distance towards finding out which of these possible causes is at the root of the problem. Because of this, lessons for future electrification projects may not be learned from the mistakes of this one.The issues may have been resolved behind closed doors, in which poor old Mark Carne has been figuratively dragged through the streets on a hurdle purely for public appeasement.
His invitation to the committee to pop along at 3am on Christmas Morning to play choo-choo is a good idea, even if the words used came across as a a bit fawning. When I was flying at Filton, a local protest group sprang up in Henbury, half a mile or so off the end of runway 27. They, or at least their chairman, complained noisily and unnecessarily about the perceived high likelihood of a light aircraft coming down in their streets, destroying many houses and killing hundreds. When the noise became unbearable, we invited the chairman to come along to see for himself the safety procedures involved, both prior to take off and on departure from the runway, to keep him and his members safe. He was shown maps and diagrams, given explanations, then taken for a demonstration ride by the chief flying instructor, during which he got to have a go at driving. Problem solved, although I don't think the PAC could be bought off in the same way. Not while there is a chance to humiliate somebody who is paid more than they are, anyway.
My two penn'orth? Politics has got in the way, although without politics we would be lucky to still have a railway, let alone an electrified one. The job should have been finished more than 30 years ago, but the then government blinked, took fright, and cancelled. NR has not covered itself with glory, but the enormity of the task of upgrading hundreds of miles of 19th century (and still live) railway is difficult to overstate. DfT is the pair of handcuffs that links the NR to the government. It isn't brilliant at the job, but what do you expect from the civil service? ORR is busy getting on with finding new things to regulate , to justify its existence. Its motto could be a Cartesian "Tempero, ergo sum". Whatever happens, the dust will settle, and time will almost certainly tell that the correct result was obtained in the end. This will prove over decades to have been a more cost-effective way of keeping people moving
en masse than any alternative that is currently feasible.
And I'm not perfect, before you ask.
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