Anger at CBE award for rail boss despite timetable chaos

ANGER erupted last night after Network Rail boss Mark Carne was honoured – despite overseeing a series of disasters.

Mr Carne, 58, was awarded a CBE for services to the rail industry just days after a timetable fiasco plunged large parts of the network into chaos.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has blamed Network Rail for the turmoil which saw thousands of trains delayed or cancelled.

Mr Carne, one of Britain’s highest paid civil servants with a package of £820,000 in 2016/17, announced in February that he is to leave his post as chief executive later this year.

The Department for Transport admitted the timing of the announcement of the award was “unfortunate”.

One union boss likened it to “rewarding the captain of the Titanic for jumping ship”.

Manuel Cortes, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said: “Frustrated passengers will see no honour in that at all.”

Mr Carne, a former executive at Shell, joined Network Rail in January 2014. He is being replaced by Andrew Haines, the current head of the Civil Aviation Authority, who will join in early autumn.

His salary will be £588,000 including benefits, which is 27 per cent lower than Mr Carne’s.

In the wake of the latest chaos, Mr Grayling said Network Rail had been “very late” in approving the new timetables.

Difficult

He later acknowledged that train operators were “not sufficiently prepared”.

Last week Mr Carne said the timetables were finalised “significantly later than normal for reasons that were both within and without our control”. He continued: “It has not been good enough and we know it.”

Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy said: “Clearly the timing of this award is difficult given current industry issues and their effects on passengers, but we should take a step back and look at Mark’s whole career, and particularly his record over the past four and a half years and recognise his tremendous contribution to our railway.

“Mark has successfully transitioned Network Rail into public ownership, delivering the largest investment programme in modern times.”