Chairman Hendy says NR primed to be ‘guiding mind’
Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy CBE told the National Rail Recovery Conference on February 25 that his organisation stands ready to accommodate any new operational ‘guiding mind’, should that recommendation emerge from the Williams Review.
RAIL Managing Editor and Events Director Nigel Harris put the suggestion to Hendy, having himself consistently argued that “Britain desperately needs NR to be rebooted as the railway’s new arm’s-length delivery agency” ( Comment, RAIL 924).
Asking Network Rail to assume this role would provide an expedient way for the Department for Transport to step away from its much-criticised involvement in day-to-day operational management. The alternative of legislating for the creation of an entirely new body could take several years.
Addressing the prospect of ‘rebooting’ NR to fulfil this new role, Hendy (pictured) said: “We are there to input if that’s needed.”
He also hoped that any potential rebranding and repurposing of NR would include a name change for the company and for its devolution agenda to be “fully harnessed”.
He added: “We wouldn’t want the name continued, and we certainly don’t want some of its reputation or history or costs… maybe it’s easier to turn it into something different than start afresh. We don’t want some of the bad reputation it had for failing to listen and being very expensive.”
Transport Select Committee Chairman Huw Merriman also felt that turning to NR to become the new arm’s length body would be the most likely result of the Williams Review.
Addressing the NRRC on the same day as Hendy, Merriman stressed the importance of providing sufficient weighting to the voice of train operators and the private sector in any new body.
He hoped that the forthcoming rail reform package from the Government would be comprehensive and detailed, with “not just the vision but also the implementation and how it will be put into practice”.
He added: “A key area for me is what the arm’s length body will be that runs the railway and sets the terms. There’s some talk that it’s Network Rail, which might make sense to start with because there is no other body available, and one would need to be set up through legislation.
“But if it is NR, then it’s essential that its culture very much brings on board the Rail Delivery Group and the operators and the commercial side of the running of the railway, in order to be able to run and direct operations.
“I am concerned about an overlap of separation of powers and any perception that we’re going back to the days of British Rail, which I don’t believe would be a good thing.”