Timetable changes
GOVERNMENT says the Office of Rail and Road’s report into May 2018’s timetable disruption will be considered in its Rail Review, and that it will take action to bring forward interim measures “where appropriate” to protect the interests of passengers.
Responding to the Transport Select Committee (TSC) report into Rail Timetable Changes, the Government accepted many of the report’s recommendations.
But its response, published on February 18, drew criticism from TSC Chairman Lilian Greenwood, who said: “People can judge for themselves the extent to which the Department for Transport (DfT) actually addresses the conclusions and recommendations from our report.”
Greenwood also criticised a lack of clarity on where responsibility for national rail timetabling will lie - whether it will be independent, or if franchisees will have to sign up to best practice policies.
“Unsurprisingly there is no comment on the lack of leadership from the Department or the Secretary of State,” she said.
“Most disappointing of all is the decision to defer any substantive response to our recommendations until after the outcome of the Williams Review, some two years after the 2018 May disruption.
“The Review is important, but I think the Department has missed an opportunity to show that passengers truly are at the top of its priorities. At a time when passengers are looking for reassurance that effective, independent oversight will bring genuine change, there is none to be found and instead the can is kicked a bit further down the track.”
The Government’s response to the TSC recommendation about accepting the ORR’s findings, and for all parties to work together and “not continue to pass the buck”, was that where full implementation of ORR findings requires significant changes to industry structures: “In these instances, we think it is right that the Rail Review… considers
them as part of its work.”
On calls for the timetable process to have independent oversight outside Network Rail, the DfT said that the new Programme Management Office would help manage the System Operator’s delivery of the timetable, and that independent industry experts would provide a further level of assurance on risk areas. Ultimate independent oversight is provided by the ORR as the industry regulator.
The ORR also responded to the report, and highlighted one of its key findings - that existing arrangements “did not support clarity of responsibility for decision making, with the result that nobody took charge”.
ORR Chief Executive John Larkinson said: “We are pleased to note that the Committee’s conclusions about causes of the disruption align with ORR’s findings.”
It also acknowledged that some of the issues highlighted in its and the TSC’s reports are likely to be addressed in the Rail Review, to which it says it will continue to contribute.