‘Nobody in charge of railway timetable blunder’
Grayling’s department criticised by key inquiry
ALL PARTS of the rail industry including Chris Grayling’s Department for Transport, have been heavily criticised by a damning inquiry into this year’s timetabling chaos, which hit passengers with a “significant financial and emotional cost” and risked their personal safety.
Professor Stephen Glaister’s report found that “nobody took charge” of the introduction of new timetables on May 20, which caused unprecedented delays and cancellations for passengers across the North.
In a damning indictment of the entire industry, the report said the DfT, Northern rail, Network Rail, the Office for Rail and Road regulator, and Govia Thameslink Railway, which experienced similar problems in the South-East, all made mistakes which contributed to the collapse of services.
During the disruption, up to 310 planned services a day on Northern’s network did not run, causing “a significant financial and emotional cost to those passengers affected, directly impacting upon their work and families and in some circumstances their personal safety”, the report said.
“This has undermined the trust in the railway and the reliance they place upon it in their lives,” added Professor Glaister.
Among a series of failings, the report traces the root of the problems back to autumn 2017, when Network Rail “worsened” problems caused by delays to completing electrification work near Bolton by wrongly believing it could make up the time over Christmas.
At about the same time, the DfT agreed to phase in the introduction of the Thameslink timetable, stretching resources at Network Rail.
“The industry, as a whole, failed to foresee that these combined factors created a serious risk that the revised timetable could fail,” the report said.
The DfT then failed to sufficiently question the industry about the risks of the timetabling process, the report said.
Network Rail’s timetabling department was best placed to understand the risks but “did not take sufficient action”. And neither GTR nor Northern were properly aware of, or prepared for, the problems in delivering the timetable and did not do enough to provide accurate information when disruption occurred.
Professor Glaister said: “Central to the issues were that good intentions and over-optimism within the rail industry about its ability to recover missed deadlines left no time to uncover and fix problems. When problems arose, timetable planners were stretched and train operators were ill-equipped to help passengers.”
A DfT spokesman said: “We welcome these findings and are working with the industry to ensure that such disruption never happens again.”
Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said the operator was moving towards a “whole system approach” for timetabling.
He said: “I’d like to add my sincerest apologies to passengers.”
A “ROOT and branch” review of Britain’s railways has been launched by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, who has admitted its current structure is “no longer fit” for the 21st century.
The entire rail industry will be probed by an expert panel led by former British Airways chief executive Keith Williams, with the aim of bringing about reform of the franchise system by 2020.
It follows a dire year for rail, with the collapse of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise, unprecedented delays and cancellations in the North summer timetabling chaos, and punctuality falling to a 12-year low.
The review has been described by the Department for Transport as the most significant since the privatisation of the railways in the 1990s, and it will look at ensuring a better balance between public and private involvement.
Mr Grayling said: “Privatisation has delivered huge benefits for passengers on Britain’s railways – doubling passenger journeys and bringing in billions of [pounds in] private investment.
“But it is clear that the structure we inherited is no longer fit to meet today’s challenges and cope with increasing customer demand.
“We’ve been clear that the railway needs reform to prioritise its passengers, and we have set out plans for closer partnerships between operators of track and train, including on the LNER and South Eastern networks. “But as part of our vision for the future of mobility, we need to go further and more quickly, to get he best from the public and private sectors and deliver the railway we need for the 21st century.”
The review will consider “ambitious” recommendations for reforms, including moves to bring track and train closer together to reduce disruption and improve accountability – a major issue highlighted by the timetabling misery in May and June.
It will also look at how the fare system can deliver better value for money for passengers, while also looking to improve industrial relations to avoid strikes.
Regional partnerships will also fall under the scope of the probe.
The panel will include Roger Marsh, who chairs the body representing the 11 Local Enterprise Partnerships in the North.
Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald said: “Rail passengers don’t need another review from the Tories to tell them that rail is broken. Another review is meaningless in a year of rocketing fares, failing franchises and timetabling chaos. Another review lets Chris Grayling off the hook. The railways need a Labour government which will deliver public ownership of rail.”
It is clear the structure is no longer fit for today’s challenges.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling
THE NORTH’S longsuffering rail passengers did not need an official inquiry to tell them that no organisation – or individual – was taking responsibility for the unprecedented chaos on the region’s railways this summer.
They knew this months ago when politicians, like Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, were in denial about the disruption and did not acknowledge the crisis on the Northern and TransPennine Express services.
Not one person has resigned – or been sacked – for this leadership void and the Office of Road and Rail now criticises decision-making protocols. It found that no part of the rail industry took sufficient responsibility for managing the introduction of new timetables and Mr Grayling’s department failed to sufficiently question Northern and Network Rail about potential risks. As research by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership showed, late and cancelled trains have already cost the economy £38m – and this figure does not account for the rail industry’s wider reputational damage.
Yet, while this latest inquiry was one of the key demands that the North’s newspapers – including The Yorkshire Post – set out in an unprecedented joint editorial in early June at the height of the crisis, Theresa May has still to respond, compensation arrangements remain ad hoc and only now are timetables being stabilised.
It can’t continue like this. As Mr Grayling launches a review into rail franchising, presumably to divert attention away from his lack of leadership, trust in the railways will only be rebuilt by enshrining these findings into law so there is proper accountability and scrutiny in the future. It’s the least passengers deserve after enduring so much misery and hardship. And that starts with the Transport Secretary – the man who said it wasn’t his job to run the railways. It is. And it is to this Government’s shame that he’s still at the controls.