LESS
EFFICIENT
Network Rail is up to 40% less efficient
than comparable European maintenance companies.
It paid far more than its foreign peers for
laying track, revamping signal boxes and
repairing overhead lines, an Office of Rail
Regulation report added.
It made a 3.6% efficiency improvement in
operating, maintenance and renewals during
2009-10, the regulator said, but it must make up
a further 18% by 2014 to meet ORR targets. NR
still had much to do... to meet our
expectations, said ORR chief executive Bill
Emery.
It may also face a fine over timetable problems
which left some train companies unable to publish
journey information, the ORR said. (Source: Metro, Sep/10) |
BONUSES
The top four executives at Network Rail are to
share bonuses of nearly £1.1million despite
losses of £232million.
The biggest payout goes to chief executive, John
Armitt, who will receive £352,728 while his
deputy Iain Coucher gets £314,490.
Projects and engineering director Peter Henderson
and finance director Ron Henderson each pocket
£235,033.
Network Rail chairman Ian McAllister said the
bonuses had been paid because the firm met
performance targets including fewer broken rails
and reducing the number of signals passed
at danger to record lows.
The 32,000 staff who work for Network Rail,
responsible for Britains railways stations,
tracks, signals and tunnels, will each get a
bonus of £954. (Source: The Sun, May/06) |
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NETWORK RAIL
Train
punctuality has worsened over the past year, according to
the Office of Rail Regulation, with nearly one train in
five on the country's worst hit service running late. It
has threatened to fine Network Rail, which runs the
countrys track infrastructure for poor performance.
According to the regulator, Network Rail is
adrift of punctuality targets and providing
passengers with a service well short of what they were
entitled to expect. Long distance trains are classed as
running late if they arrive 10 minutes behind schedule,
commuter services are given five minutes leeway.
On long distance routes, such as from London to Scotland
and South Wales, Network Rail is now 3-4 % short of the
target set by the Government in 2009. For the 12 months
ending July 23, 87.5% of trains ran on time, compared
with 89% over the same period a year ago. However these
figures mask an especially poor performance on First
Great Western, which runs services to the West Country
and Wales, where nearly 17% of trains were late. This
time last year under nine per cent of services failed to
arrive within 10 minutes of schedule.
Commuter services in London and the South East performed
worse with 91.1% of trains arriving on time, compared
with 91.4% last year. However under the targets set by
the Government and regulator, punctuality was expected to
improve over the past year rather than deteriorate. It is
this that has left Network Rail facing the threat of a
fine as its performance was described as
unacceptable by the regulator. Richard Price,
the ORRS chief executive, said, They need to
demonstrate that the industrys leadership can
really deliver for its customers. It is urgent that they
do, and I expect to see robust and realistic plans in the
coming weeks which are being acted upon and making a
difference."
Network Rails deteriorating performance has been
due in part to the severe winter at the turn of the year
and the increasing problems of cable theft. Robin Gisby,
managing director of network operations, Network Rail,
defended the companys performance. He said,
"Network Rail is focused on continuing to drive up
performance and safety across Britain's railway."
He added, "Over the last few years the industry has
driven up performance levels to amongst the best in
Europe with over 90% of trains arriving on time. Yet, we
acknowledge that in some parts of the country performance
does not meet the standards that passengers and our
customers now rightly demand. Working with our industry
partners, we are committed to making further
improvements." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Sep/11)
Roadside signs urging
motorists to let the train take the strain are being
considered by the Government. The digital signs will
provide motorists with comparison journey times to town
centres by rail and car. They will also advise on
alternative routes off the motorway which could prove
quicker. Work on the signs started under the Labour
Government, when it was seen as a way of promoting the
low carbon economy. The initiative is seen as giving
motorists better information, but leaving them to take
final decision.
A spokesman for Network Rail said, "More and people
are recognising that instead of being stuck in a traffic
jam you can work productively or just relax and let the
train take the strain. Network Rail welcomes this
initiative to convince people to take the rail
alternative." Which actually translates as,
"More and more people are realising that instead of
being stuck in a traffic jam, they can pay through the
nose for the privilege of standing on a platform waiting
for a delayed train to arrive, and when it does, face an
extended journey standing up with their face in someone's
armpit".
Network Rail failed to meet agreed punctuality targets
last year. The Office of Rail Regulation warned of an
upward trend in delays and criticised the track
infrastructure company over safety. According to Bill
Emery, the ORRS outgoing chief executive, said the
company faced major challenges to meet future performance
targets. He said, "Network Rail missed the majority
of its operational performance objectives for areas like
punctuality, and it quickly needs to take steps to
improve its safety culture." (Source: Daily Telegraph, Jun/11)
Network Rail has announced
that £18m will be spent on refurbishing Derby's railway
station. The project will include rebuilding all the
platform canopies and lifts are to be installed to take
people from the footbridge to platforms two, three, four
and six. Work to dismantle and rebuild the platform
canopies will take place in four phases between February
2008 and June 2009. The station will remain open although
certain platforms will have to close at various stages of
the project.
Dyan Crowther, Network Rail route director, said,
"Certain platforms will have to be closed at
different points throughout the project and there will be
some changes to timetabled train services, particularly
at weekends." East Midlands Trains managing director
Tim Shoveller said, "We're proud to manage the
station at Derby, a city with a great railway history,
and we hope that this upgrade will provide a station
fitting with this." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Nov/07)
Network Rail has asked for
a grant of £7bn to ease overcrowding on services across
the country. It says it needs the extra money to cope
with an expected 30% increase in passengers and freight
over the next decade, on top of more than £4bn a year
that it already gets to run the current network. It wants
to spend the extra money on extending platforms to take
longer trains, and on new sections of line on the busiest
stretches of mainline and commuter routes into London and
other cities.
Critics claim rail infrastructure costs have been too
high ever since they soared after privatisation a decade
ago, even though Network Rail has cut the annual
operating bill by £1bn-£1.5bn since it took over from
Railtrack in 2002. Stephen Joseph, executive director of
campaign group Transport 2000, said, "They are
getting shedloads of money, and if you look at how much
it costs to do things here compared with other countries,
it's quite high and they are going to have to justify
that." (Source: Observer, Jul/06)
Network Rail's four
directors are to receive bonuses totalling almost
£900,000 despite one in six trains continuing to run
late. John Armitt, the chief executive, will receive a
bonus of £270,000, taking his total earnings for the
year to £755,000. Iain Coucher, his deputy, will get
£240,000 on top of his salary of £433,000. Two other
executive directors will receive bonuses of £180,000
each. The rail infrastructure company more than doubled
the bonuses that the four men received the previous year
after saying that they had exceeded all their targets for
punctuality, financial performance and the condition of
the network.
But Network Rail had admitted that its punctuality target
was too weak. Punctuality has improved slightly in the
past 12 months to 83.8% of trains on time, but Railtrack
achieved 90% in 1998. Under Network Rails
improvement programme, 90% punctuality will not be
restored until 2009. Network Rails remuneration
committee, which sets the bonuses, chose to ignore a
request from the rail regulator to take into account the
companys failure to give sufficient warning of
engineering works.
Millions of passengers have had to buy more expensive
tickets because Network Rails delay in issuing
emergency timetables has prevented train companies from
selling discounted fares in advance. The regulator wrote
to the committee pointing out that the company was
seriously in breach of its operating licence
and that this must be taken into account when deciding on
the level of bonus. But the committee decided to award
bonuses worth 55.6% of the directors salaries, just
below the maximum permitted of 60%. In 2004 they received
24%.
Ian McAllister, Network Rails chairman, said that
the bonuses were modest compared with those awarded by
other large companies. In the past year train
delays have been reduced by 17%, significant efficiency
savings have been made and the condition of the railway
assets has improved markedly, he said. I
would rather have the problem of people telling me the
bonuses are too high than to have missed the
targets. He said that Network Rail had also
improved safety, with broken rails, signals passed at
danger and train accidents all at their lowest level.
The company measures its punctuality performance by the
number of minutes of delay it causes to trains. The total
fell by 2.3 million minutes in 2004 but was still at 11.4
million minutes, well above Railtracks record of
9.1 million. Railtrack predicted in 2002 that it would
cut delays to eight million minutes a year by 2006. Even
after setting a tougher target, Network Rail is aiming
only to reduce delays to 10.6 million minutes in the 12
months. While the directors and senior managers will
receive bonuses based on a percentage of their salaries,
the remaining 27,300 staff will receive a fixed sum of
£1,112.
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