Office of Rail and Road report reveals decline in Network Rail efficiency
Network Rail delivered a railway on which no passenger died on NR tracks or stations in 2016-17 (three died at stations managed by train operators), but one on which punctuality declined and efficiency fell, according to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
The regulator’s annual report on NR presents a mixed picture, with the national track owner under increased financial pressure with renewals work deferred into the next Control Period (2019-24).
Although it recognised Britain’s railway as one of the safest in Europe, ORR was concerned that NR relied too much on the knowledge, competence and expertise of individual staff, which it said made the railway more vulnerable. It said that deferring renewals was placing more pressure on maintenance and inspection work.
Performance in England and Wales fell over the year, down from 88.9% in 2015-16 to 87.4% in 2016-17, compared with NR’s’ internal target of 88.9% and its regulated target of 92.3%.
For Scotland, 2016-17 delivered 90.3% performance against a regulated target of 92.0%. Freight performance in England and Wales was better than target, at 94.4% compared with 92.5% (97.3% in Scotland against a target of 92.5%).
ORR found strong performance for Virgin West Coast and Transport for London Rail, but said it was concerned about performance for Virgin Trains East Coast, Southeastern, Govia Thameslink Railway and South West Trains.
It investigated performance on Southeastern and found that there had been an increase in unexplained delays, because the number of incidents overwhelmed NR’s investigation teams. It also found that Thameslink’s upgrade programme had a greater effect on delays than expected. Overall, ORR concluded that NR was doing everything reasonably practicable to reach its performance targets.
ORR reported that NR completed
27 of 41 enhancements milestones in England and Wales. In Scotland NR missed its March 2017 deadline to electrify the Edinburgh-Glasgow line, and forecasts overspends on Aberdeen-Inverness improvements and electrifying Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa.
ORR said that delivery of 42-minute journeys and eight-car services between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and of the Glasgow Queen Street station upgrade, was now at risk - NR forecasts that it will miss March 2019’s deadline.
ORR said it was reviewing NR’s Great Western electrification programme, AS it was concerned it would not meet this December’s entry into service milestone.
In Scotland, NR overspent its £425 million 2016-17 budget by £31m, having spent £69m more on enhancements than planned (£60m on Edinburgh-Glasgow) - mainly because it had to redesign electrification work to comply with legal standards. NR underspent on Scottish renewals by £30m and has pushed £46m of renewals into 2019-24.
South of the border, ORR reports that NR underspent its net budget of £5,377m by £499m. It notes that NR deferred work to the value of £992m, including £800m of renewals, £163m of enhancements and £29m from compensation payments for track closures.
Efficiency fell by 5%. Some of this came from NR being unable to deliver £132m of track renewals using high-output kit. This led to less track being renewed and that work costing more.