Rail Safety
HM Chief Inspector of Railways Ian Prosser calls for the focus to be on renewals rather than enhancements in CP6.
“IT is very important that the catch-up of deferred renewals is achieved in Control Period 6 [2019-24],” HM Chief Inspector of Railways and Director of Railway Safety for the Office of Rail and Road Ian Prosser has told RAIL.
Prosser’s words echoed those of Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling, when he announced publication of the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) and initial Statement of Funds Available (SoFA) for CP6 on July 20 (see separate story, pages 6-9).
Prosser said that this is particularly apparent in the area of civils, which have historically been the subject of under-investment. And he said that the rate of improvement in asset safety has plateaued.
“We need to be able to fund what needs to be done in the next ten years, because these assets are vulnerable to particularly bad weather, which we have had more instances of,” said Prosser.
“And they are getting old. A lot of them are nearing the end of their life, and are being used more than they ever have before.”
He referred to the particular risk presented by the failures of civil structures or earthworks, such as the landslip-caused derailment at Hunton Bridge Tunnel (near Watford Junction) in September 2016.
Prosser said Network Rail has “a very good idea of what needs to be done”, but that it needs to “do it more efficiently” because its predictions on how to improve efficiency in delivering renewals
“have not materialised”.
However, he did point out the difficulty with estimating the work required on ageing infrastructure, because nearly every job is unique and many are in locations that are difficult to access.
“We need to look after the house as well as build on the conservatory. Renewals should take precedence over enhancements in CP6. If you look at how much has been spent on enhancements in CP5, it has been very substantial. Even if we spend the same sort of money as we spent in CP5, we need to switch focus to make sure that we prioritise renewals.”
He was keen to stress that this is not just a safety issue, but a performance one because of the inevitable speed restrictions and other mitigations that would need to be put in place on deteriorating infrastructure.
“It has a longer-term impact on whole-life costs of the industry. If you’re not renewing assets you have to spend more money on maintenance, which is not costeffective in the longer term.
“So, in the longer term, you’re being less efficient. It’s important that we realise that. British Rail left things and this is why we have some of the backlog in civils structures, in particular. But in the end you’ll be doing more work than if you did it earlier on. Cracks become bigger, vegetation grows and causes more damage.”
Prosser did say that he believes route devolution will help NR to focus on efficient renewal delivery by working more closely with the train operating companies to plan renewals and maintenance better.
Prosser was speaking ahead of the publication of the ORR’s annual report on Railway Health and Safety performance, released on July 19.