ORR chief criticises industry’s poor performance
THE outgoing chief executive of the Office of Rail and Road has hit out at the rail industry for its poor performance, pointing the finger partly at Network Rail.
Joanna Whittington, who was due to leave the organisation on October 5 (after this issue of RAIL went to press), said at a conference in London on September 12: “The need for improvement is pressing. Performance has been poor for many passengers for a prolonged period of time. Delivery by Network Rail has caused problems, but that’s not the only cause.
“Strong planning is essential – as an industry there’s a lot to think about in respect of poor performance and the speed at which it may be recoverable.”
She said one lesson that needs to be learnt is that “setting tough targets on efficiency does not on its own deliver an efficient outcome”, adding that - to an extent - it is up to NR and the training operating companies (TOCs) to decide an acceptable level of performance.
“You don’t deliver performance by a regulator setting a tough performance target,” Whittington said.
“It has to come about between NR and TOCs and we’re keen everyone should work to the same target so that incentives are aligned. That hasn’t happened so far and since June the implications from the May timetable change have become very apparent to everyone and the current level of PPM [public performance measure] remains low and unacceptable.”
In a wide-ranging speech, Whittington added that she is a fan of devolution and the partnership model, which is to be launched on the East Coast Main Line, but she raised concerns that freight operators shouldn’t lose because of closer working between one TOC and NR.
“I support close working between Network Rail and TOCs, and I think that devolution can help that,” she said. “In certain areas, we’ve put in place different arrangements where it is critical, such as the Performance Innovation Fund. We want NR, working with TOCs, to think
about things that could be done differently, so we are looking at how we incentivise better operation. We’re also very keen to think of all operators on a route – where you see alliances work well we want to make sure freight operators and minority passenger operators are not disadvantaged because of this close interface. As a regulator, our role around access is critical.”