NEWS
Welsh government has ‘serious reservations’ about Network Rail
The Welsh government has “serious reservations” about Network Rail and its ability to deliver projects and “might have to choose others to undertake some of the work for us”.
The revelation was made by Welsh transport minister Edwina Hart in December at a session of the Welsh Assembly’s Enterprise and Business Committee. She said: “We have serious reservations
about Network Rail and its ability to deliver, and the cost over-runs that are going on elsewhere, within a Welsh context.”
She referred to issues with north
Wales line upgrades as well as the Cardiff resignalling project. The full story – and much more on Network Rail’s cost over-runs on electrification projects across the UK – is on the RTM website.
Questions over Christmas engineering over-runs
replacement of more than 1km of track, some 12,000 tonnes of ballast and the use of 14 dedicated engineering trains, along with renewals of seven sets of points and crossings, and of overhead wiring.
Network Rail Infrastructure Projects boss Dr Francis Paonessa was due to submit his report on the Christmas rail disruptions as RTM went to press.
The company’s chief executive, Mark Carne – who turned down his annual bonus of £34,000 following the engineering work over-runs – ordered the internal investigation ahead of an appearance on 14 January in front of the Transport Select Committee.
No services could operate out of King’s Cross on Saturday
27 December, with passengers advised to start and finish their journeys at Finsbury Park station in north London instead. However, that station was closed temporarily because of overcrowding.
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin said this station “was never really an option for main trains to terminate, and perhaps that should not have been done”, suggesting that Network Rail perhaps bit off more than it could chew with the extent of works at King’s Cross. This involved the
Joint venture AmeySersa was the contractor responsible for S&C renewal at Holloway, but has not commented on the disruption.
People hoping to travel from Reading to London Paddington also faced delays and cancellations after Christmas after work over-ran on the Crossrail West upgrades, involving Signalling Solutions and others.
The Office of Rail Regulation said it would open a formal probe into why the maintenance work had not been completed on time, as well as the quality of information
provided to passengers and any compensation owed. A spokesman said: “Network Rail, working with the rest of the industry, must learn lessons and prevent problems like this happening again.”
Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s outgoing managing director of network operations, said: “I would like to sincerely apologise for the upset and upheaval passengers suffered…as our engineers struggled to complete an essential improvement project that had been months in planning.”
Passenger Focus said the “trust has been broken” between passengers and the railways after they spent hours trapped on trains, locked outside stations and left to find out what to do by themselves, saying they should all claim compensation.
Reading viaduct, Watford and East Coast works completed
Although Network Rail’s Christmas was marred by the high-profile disruptions due to over-runs on a few projects, many other pieces of work went to plan. The company said that over the 12-day Christmas and new year period, more than 11,000 people at 2,000 locations delivered £200m worth of improvements.
London Bridge saw two new platforms opened and new track laid – although Network Rail has since had to apologise for “unacceptable” disruption and delays caused by overcrowding on the concourse in early January.
The Watford works on the West Coast Main Line were completed successfully (see page 46), as were the works further north at Stafford and Norton Bridge.
Re-signalling on the New Cross Gate to Sydenham corridor and also near Bermondsey was successful, as was track replacement at the Hornsey depot in north London.
The Reading viaduct (pictured right) – a critical component of the whole upgrade – has been completed west of the station.
Track renewals in east London and Essex were completed on time, as were OLE upgrades on the Great Eastern Main Line.
There were 13 different projects involving more than 1,000 workers on the East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and Peterborough, all of which have now been successfully completed, as were bridge improvements in
4 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 15
Dewsbury and Newcastle and track improvements near York and on the Doncaster to Leeds line.
Resignalling on the Midland Main Line went ahead as planned, as did the demolition and partial reconstruction of two bridges
ahead of that line’s electrification, plus track improvements between Kettering and Corby and at Toton.
In Scotland, structural and tunnelling work on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Project (EGIP) was successful.
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