The £820,000 boss never too far from controversy
WHEN Mark Carne retired in July to spend more time at his beloved holiday home in Cornwall, he left the railways in a state of chaos.
The bungled introduction of a new timetable in May under his watch triggered thousands of delays and cancellations.
An independent report into the debacle concluded that Network Rail, rail bosses and officials at the Department of Transport were all culpable.
But Mark Milford Power Carne was well used to being a controversial figure.
The married father of three, a former Shell oil executive, owns a five-bedroom farmhouse in Tadley, Hampshire, believed to be worth more than £2million. His annual package of £820,000 – including a basic salary of more than £682,000 – meant he was paid more than five times what the Prime Minister receives.
This has made him an easy target for criticism over fat-cat pay in the public sector as passengers endured soaring ticket prices, strikes and over-running engineering works.
Whitehall officials were so anxious to avoid the rows over pay that plagued Mr Carne’s four-and-a-half years at the helm, they stipulated that his successor would have to accept a pay cut. Mr Carne’s replacement Andrew Haines receives only £588,000.
During Mr Carne’s tenure, Network Rail was plagued by criticism.
The delayed and vastly over-budget electrification of the Great Western Mainline between London and Swansea was described by the Commons public accounts committee as a ‘stark example of how not to run a major project’.
The committee also said Network Rail was complicit in a ‘multi-faceted shambles’ on Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs Thameslink, Great Northern and Southern.