That’s just loco! Our railways are envy of Europe says rail boss
A RAIL boss has sparked incredulity after claiming Britain has the most efficient railways in Europe.
Robert Nisbet, regional director of the Rail Delivery Group said European nations including France, Spain and Italy could ‘only dream’ of the ‘punctual’ services in this country.
His bold claim comes as a fifth of Northern Rail services were delayed or cancelled on Monday, causing travel chaos for thousands of passengers. He was accused by critics of ‘living on a different planet’.
Mr Nisbet told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘We’re a hugely successful railway in many ways – much more so than many countries in Western Europe who would only dream about having our kind of performance and punctuality records. A lot of that is because of the public-private partnership.
‘A lot of us get on those gleaming fast trains that go from city to city in France and Spain and Italy but a lot of their suburban commuter lines are terribly inefficient. They have suffered for years with a lack of investment.’ But last night Mr Nisbet was forced to apologise for his comments – which were based on a survey from 2013.
He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘I am sorry as clearly my comments do not reflect the recent experience of some of our customers as I fully understand how frustrating recent disruption in parts of the country has been for people.’ The Rail Delivery Group – which represents the industry – said Mr Nisbet’s statement was based on a European Commission passenger satisfaction survey from five years ago.
Last night Grant Shapps, a former chairman of the Conservative Party, said: ‘Those using the railways over the last few months have suspected rail bosses are out of touch.
‘Now it’s been proven in spectacular style by absurd, crass and insensitive comments by the rail companies’ own spokesman. They clearly need to spend more time travelling on their own railways rather than sitting in their ivory towers.’
Bim Afolami, the Tory MP for Hitchen and Harpenden, said Mr Nisbet would ‘have to be on a different planet to think that the current performance of our railways is anything like acceptable’.
Rail services in the North were so bad yesterday that the Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham called on Theresa May to intervene.
Mr Nisbet’s gaffe comes after the Mail revealed how train operators depend on drivers working on their days off to run full timetables. This is because rail unions Aslef and the RMT secured a four- day working week following the privatisation of British Rail more than 20 years ago.
Drivers can earn up to £340-a-day for agreeing to do a fifth day as overtime, despite some already on salaries of more than £65,000 a year.
Yesterday the DFT vowed to crack down on an ‘over-reliance on overtime’ following the Mail’s investigation. A spokesman said depending on overtime ‘reduces resilience and can lead to an impact on services’. He added: ‘We are working with the industry to reduce the reliance on overtime to improve reliability.’
WHAT A WAY TO RUN A RAILWAY From yesterday’s Mail