Barking up the wrong posts

The problems with the lack of project management skills within Network Rail have been made all too apparent in the Barking-Gospel Oak electrification scheme in north London. What was supposed to be a relatively straightforward and inexpensive bit of infill of electrification in suburban London has turned out to be yet another headache for Network Rail.

Everything that could go wrong has done so. Sewers have been breached by pile drivers, causing flooding and needing 24-hour pumps that have infuriated neighbours; there have been problems with lowering the track sufficiently under bridges; the overhead equipment has not been delivered on time and then found to be ‘incorrectly designed’; and so on.

In one of my rare uses of a car, I have to drive to Walthamstow most weeks to collect my twin grandsons. I go past a section of the line, and it is a sad sight with a few random posts installed - some with the connective links for the wires, others without. It has all the hallmarks of a half-finished job left to rot in the elements, like those half-finished villas that are so common on Greek islands.

This is after a nine-month closure that was supposed to enable all the works to be carried out and electrification to be completed. Now work will have to be completed in additional closures, and there is no clear date as to when it will be completed.

If Network Rail cannot get such a small scheme right (just 14 miles long), is it surprising that the bigger electrification projects have caused so much upheaval?