CURRENT AFFAIRS
Despite a sharp reduction in the appetite for further electrification in the UK, Network Rail has good reason to be proud of its existing projects, says Infrastructure Projects Regional Director Neil Thompson.
If there is one part of Network Rail’s Infrastructure Projects portfolio that can be described as contentious, then it is undoubtedly electrification.
Ongoing criticism of IP’s implementation of several high-profile energisation programmes resurfaced in July, when the Department for Transport (DfT) curtailed schemes to electrify the Midland Main Line north of Kettering, the Great Western Main Line between Cardiff and Swansea, and the Windermere to Oxenholme branch.
DfT’s policy now appears to have tilted firmly in favour of bi-mode trains, reigniting the debate over whether NR can effectively deliver electrification programmes on time and to budget.
But much of the criticism surrounding current projects is unfounded, says Neil Thompson, IP’s regional director for Crossrail West and Wales, and therefore responsible for a large part of the £3 billion Great Western Route Modernisation programme.
Having been given the go-ahead in 2009, NR’s handling of GWRM became heavily scrutinised in 2015 when the scope of the project was substantially revised, following the Hendy Review into NR’s delivery programme for Control Period 5.
Recognising difficulties surrounding the programme, including its rising cost, it was decided to press ahead with a commitment to deliver the core section of electrification between Paddington and Cardiff by March 2019. Meanwhile, subsequent announcements have confirmed the cancellation of electrification beyond Cardiff, and the ‘indefinite deferment’ of associated schemes to Oxford, Bristol Temple Meads and the branches to Henley and Windsor.
Legacy Issues
Thompson says that the problems encountered on GWRM are legacy issues, however, and lie with decisions made long before a single spade had been put in the ground. They should therefore not be seen as a reflection on the abilities of contractors or IP employees and much has been done since then to improve planning and better co-ordinate decision making.
He adds: “We started construction without the design being finished, and a completion date was fixed with the franchisees and rolling stock manufacturers that wasn’t properly knitted together. But much was learned from that and we are now far more integrated with our operators and we work more closely with the DfT.
“It’s incumbent on the builder to advise his client immediately if there’s a problem so, although we might not be the architect or the cause of the problem, it is up to us to report it to the DfT. My advice is always to have a proper ground investigation and complete your design before making commitments.
“But my job isn’t to talk about the past because if you keep recalling the negatives you can’t successfully deliver a project with that sort of mentality. You’ve got to give your team confidence and keep everyone aligned and supportive.”
With so much interest focused on which lines will not now be energised, it’s easy to forget that NR is still engaged in the most extensive electrification programme in UK history. The last major electrification scheme was that for the East Coast Main Line, completed by BR in 1991.
IP is also delivering the £742m EdinburghGlasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) that involves the electrification of some 93 track miles between Scotland’s two biggest cities.
EGIP will be energised in October, followed by the Shotts line in 2019, while south of the border the North West electrification continues apace and will be completed by 2018, when routes to Preston and Blackpool are energised.
In southern England work is almost complete to upgrade or install overhead line equipment (OLE) on Crossrail’s eastern and western surface
“It’ s easy to forget that NR is still engaged in the most extensive electrification programme in its history, of a scale not seen in the UK since the East Coast Main Line upgrade was completed by British Rail in 1991.” Neil Thompson, IP Regional Director for Cross rail West and Wales
sections to accommodate the phased introduction of Crossrail services, and work is underway to extend electrification of the Midland Main Line from Kettering to Corby.
Engineering Challenges
On the GW Main Line, Thompson’s team successfully energised the OLE between Stockley and Maidenhead in May, allowing Great Western Railway to introduce electric units, and electrified Reading Depot 12 months ahead of schedule.
Thompson is now focused on electrification as far as Didcot by January 2018, and then to Cardiff by December next year. Finally, routes from Reading to Newbury and Royal Wootton Bassett to Chippenham will follow in March 2019 to complete the revised schedule.
“I regard the quality of my teams in Swindon and Wales as world leading, and the volume of work we’re doing is huge. I know we’re not going to convince the public or the press easily, but we just have to deliver to the timescales now.
“I can accept criticism when we go over budget or are late, but what I can’t accept is that British engineers do not know what they are doing. We’ve hit all our critical dates since the Hendy Review in 2015 and the OLE infrastructure to Didcot is now 99% complete, so we’re on track.”
Thompson concedes that reputational damage has been inflicted by GWRM, but that public attitudes continue to underestimate the scale of the engineering challenge IP has faced in upgrading largely Victorian infrastructure.
Also, often overlooked is the rigorous regulatory environment in which IP must operate. This can make comparison with previous large-scale electrification schemes seem unfair, while allowing popular and pervasive misconceptions to form.
He says: “People say to me ‘what is so difficult about sticking some posts in the ground and stringing some wires up?’ Fundamentally the problem is trying to explain just how hard it actually is to do exactly that.
“Electrification is only about 50% of the job, and the rest is civil engineering and line speed improvements. It’s achieving bridge clearances, and changes at platforms and level crossings.
“I can’t talk about Great Western without also talking about the Brunel-built tunnels. We’ve completed the Severn Tunnel already and Chipping Sodbury is our challenge in the next few weeks. We’ve still got Patchway and Newport tunnels to do and they are very wet, constrained environments and some of the toughest places on the entire network to install electric wires.”
He adds: “Some of my peers and mentors who worked on the East Coast ask me why it is so expensive, and one of the issues now is that consents and the whole planning legislation is much more difficult than it used to be. With regard to heritage consents and environmental concerns, you can’t just put OLE through a station if it’s a listed structure, and you have to be more sensitive to the environment.”
Finally, NR’s mission to become more customer focused has created added complexity for GWRM. The IP team must strike a balance between the need for disruptive possessions and maximising access for operators such as Great Western Railway.
“People sometimes forget how bad train performance used to be, and performance today is expected to be much better. But to deliver major enhancements when your operators are trying to achieve a PPM of 90% or more is extremely difficult.
“It makes it a different game for IP when we’re trying to deliver the £3bn upgrade of the Great Western in five-hour weeknight shifts. If you lose an hour because of a late running train you can lose 20% of your production overnight, which is why it is so challenging.“But we’re on schedule and we feel very positive.”