Industry leader sets out plan to earn trust of public
A LEADING rail industry figure has called for train operators and officials responsible for infrastructure to work more closely together to win back the trust of the public.
Rob McIntosh of Network Rail, who is involved in many of the major rail infrastructure projects in Yorkshire such as the transPennine route upgrade, says his agency’s Our Putting Passengers First Programme was a step to addressing the crisis in public trust.
He told a rail event in Scotland that public trust had been ebbing away from the industry prior to the May 2018 timetable crisis but that the delays and disruption saw this feeling accelerate.
Highlighting the fact that decision-making, targets and process had become conflated and disorientated, he said the industry’s offer to passengers and taxpayers was declining.
The new scheme will restructure Network Rail, which is responsible for the nation’s rail infrastructure, by devolving powers to officials who work more closely with local operators so that the business is built around 13 routes and five regions.
Mr McIntosh, Route Managing Director of London North East and East Midlands, said Network Rail and rail operators such as Northern working towards the same targets and incentives would make the biggest difference to passengers.
And he told his audience that the industry needed to look at itself in the mirror and ask if all decisions are being made in the interests of passengers, warning that rail users were starting to vote with their feet.
Mr McIntosh said that leaders should be in no doubt that failing to address the issues in a collaborative way would lead to the industry dying a slow death or being forced to change.