Change demanded to avoid more rail chaos
THE Government has published recommendations for preventing a repeat of the May 2018 rail timetable failure that created chaos for passengers in the North West.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said that Northern was partly to blame for the disruption, and must share the blame with others including the Department for Transport, Network Rail and the ORR itself.
After the introduction of the new timetable, Northern removed 168 services between June and July because of the disruption.
The ORR also published a draft final order, requiring Network Rail to improve its timetabling process.
It found that the failures in May were a result of poor communication within the industry, a perception that no one was in overall control of decision-making and a failure to put passengers at the heart of decision-making.
On Friday, the ORR recommended that the interests of passengers were put at the heart of key decisions for major rail projects, and that the industry works together to improve how information is provided to passengers.
The ORR is also setting out how this can be achieved.
To strengthen decisionmaking, its range of actions include requiring Network Rail’s system operator to publish a plan by April 1, 2019, explaining how it will lead a review of Part D of the Network Code – which creates the slots for new services in the timetable.
This will include consideration of whether Part D should explicitly set out go/no go decision points.
Other major recommendations include clearer scope for industry boards to oversee major network change.
The ORR said: “This will ensure greater scrutiny of the interdependencies involving new timetables, infrastructure, rolling stock and franchises.”
It also called for new independent, systemwide advice and auditing to be introduced as soon as possible for major network changes, to spot and address problems before they affect passengers, and recommended addressing “optimism bias” by learning from the examples of best practice in other sectors in delivering major projects on time and to budget.
In addition, actions for the ORR itself include monitoring the Network Rail system operator’s performance in delivering commitments made in CP6 – the industry’s strategic plan for 2019-2024, and continuing enhanced monitoring of the risks to future timetables, while the industry strengthens its own capability in response to these actions and recommendations.
In the longer term, the Williams Review will look at what more fundamental changes are required.
The recommendations are in response to Phase 1 of the Inquiry.
Phase 1 looked into the causes of the 20 May timetable breakdown and reported that the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway, Northern and the ORR made mistakes, which led to the collapse of services causing misery to passengers.
It found gaps in accountability for managing systemic risks, as well as failures to take sufficient action to deal with growing problems or raise the alarm about the risk of disruption.
ORR and inquiry chairman, Prof Stephen Glaister said: “Passengers were let down by the rail industry on May 20 and the weeks that followed.
“We found systemic failures that needed to be resolved in order to reduce the possibility that passengers have to endure these conditions again.”
But he said: “We are pleased with the improvements that have been made so far and expect our recommendations, which can be implemented immediately, to bring more benefits.
“More fundamental changes are needed in the longer term, which is the subject of the Williams Review. The ORR will contribute to that review.”