FEATURE: SOUTH WEST TRAINS
to two bosses – Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s chief operating officer, and Martin Griffiths, the new chief executive at Stagecoach. Shoveller’s number two is Jim Morgan, a Network Rail man, and throughout the organisation there are people who report to a boss who works for the other company. There are added complexities, such as the fact that the Network Rail route includes part of the network where SWT does not run trains but other operators do, and others where SWT shares the tracks with other rail companies, notably, the freight carriers, Great Western and InterCity. And just to spice things up further,
there is an added issue that arises from the complex relationship between the rail companies and the Department for Transport (DfT). Network Rail and SWT have to be careful not to be accused of colluding over the non-payment of the Schedule 8 monies. This is because currently SWT is subject to the cap and collar regime, which limits its losses under the franchise system because revenue has been below levels expected and therefore, the DfT actually receives 80 per cent of the Schedule 8 money. The move towards an alliance between Network Rail and SWT is not some kind of theoretical exercise. According to Morgan, it has a very practical purpose, which is “to improve performance”. There is, too, the expectation that eventually it will save costs.
Morgan reckons that so far, the
This adversarial relationship had to be changed if the alliance was to be effective. There was, too, concern about who would be legally responsible in an accident. And there was the question of who would benefit from any savings and how they would be shared out.
SWT and Network Rail decided the only solution to this complex series of issues was to merge their organisations in terms of running the train service out of Waterloo – and that includes the staff. Tim Shoveller, who formerly ran Stagecoach’s East Midlands Trains operation, now heads a joint team of Network Rail and SWT staff and reports
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structures have been created and there is the potential to make great improvements. Nevertheless, he warns that: “We cannot wave a magic wand and improve the performance. Nor, so far, have we saved lots of costs.” But, he goes on, “We have already made changes. For example, we have taken on an extra seven people in the possession planning department to ensure they can be made more easily and conveniently.”
Morgan also points to the fact that
there is now a Network Rail staffer in the Waterloo box whose sole task is to monitor the functioning of points, track circuits and other equipment. According to Morgan, that means that: “If something is not working properly, then we can arrange for a team to be on site much quicker than before, and there will be no arguments about ensuring they can get access.” Morgan reckons there will be a whole change
“Previously, it was almost as if there was a commercial incentive for things to go wrong.”
in culture: “Previously, it was almost as if there was a commercial incentive for things to go wrong,” he says. This is because the level of the Schedule 8 payments did not necessarily match the cost that was incurred by a delay. Another indicator of progress is
the retiming of the 0400 Guildford to Waterloo to run half-an-hour later. This might seem like a minor matter but actually means that there is a vital extra 30 minutes for overnight possessions. Brian Souter, the founder of Stagecoach, who has recently moved from chief executive to the chairmanship, has been a long-time supporter of this sort of integration but has no doubts about the complexity: “I’ve been working towards this for a long time. I have been a supporter of integration for many years. So alliancing is a fascinating opportunity for us. As a result, the railway is going to become three things. First of all it’s going to become safe, secondly it’s going to become more reliable and thirdly it’s going to become less expensive, but it’s going to be in that order and we are going to have to spend money initially to get the asset up to the required standard. It helps when you are all on the same side and working together. You just want to prioritise work on the asset correctly.”
Souter is convinced it will make life easier for both parties: “We are going to give Network Rail more access. Whereas under the old system we didn’t realise what their problems were and so we would just say ‘tough bananas’, it’s not our problem and you can’t have access, you are ruining our railway. Now we see it as all working together.” Souter reckons that this new way of working will spread: “I see it happening everywhere – even on the West Coast [where Stagecoach has a near 50 per cent stake in Virgin Trains], where it will be most difficult.” And according to Morgan, the whole industry is watching: “There’s a lot of peer pressure out there. People in the industry are looking at this very carefully. They want it to work.”
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