Network Rail - Reviews and Reports from Sir Peter Hendy and Dame Colette Bowe

[whole diary]

[grahame]

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/largest-investment-in-railways-since-victorian-times-will-continue?

Sir Peter Hendy today published his review into Network Rail^s five-year funding programme to 2019. Sir Peter has concluded that the majority of the programme can go ahead as planned with extra investment generated primarily from the sale of non-core railway assets.

Announcing the conclusions of his review, Sir Peter Hendy CBE, chairman of Network Rail, said: ^Passengers and businesses are already benefitting from the largest investment by Government in our railways since Victorian times and that will continue.

^The extra investment secures a Railway Upgrade Plan that delivers better stations, faster, more frequent and longer trains and a safer and more reliable railway for millions of passengers and businesses. 

^Working closely with the Department for Transport we have ensured that no infrastructure project has been cancelled and the bulk of the investment programme will be delivered by March 2019.

"Some projects will cost more and take longer than originally expected but we will see the job through to deliver better journeys for passengers.  My review has clearly found that the original plan was unrealistic and undeliverable.

"This new Railway Upgrade Plan is a more robust and deliverable plan but it is not without its own risks and challenges which Network Rail will work tirelessly to address."

Sir Peter^s 44-page report gives an overview of the different parts of the country and what will be delivered. An eight-week consultation by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) on the report^s findings will start in early December.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

In June, Sir Peter Hendy CBE was appointed as the new chairman of Network Rail by the Secretary of State for Transport. He was tasked with reviewing Network Rail^s CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) (Control Period 5, 2014-19) enhancement portfolio which had seen some significant cost and timescale pressures.
Sir Peter has now concluded a thorough review of the enhancement programme, and details what can be delivered in a timely and affordable way. The report can be found at www.networkrail.co.uk/hendy-review/ .
The extra investment has / will come from Network Rail realising ^1.8bn from the sale of some of its extensive property portfolio. The Government has also been able to increase the limit on Network Rail^s Government borrowing by a further ^700 million . The planned sale of assets will also allow Network Rail to focus on its core task of running the railways
The Hendy review looked at Network Rail^s Railway Upgrade Plan for England and Wales.

[grahame]

NOTE - Link in report to actual review does not (yet?) work. I understand:

[deleted] - inaccurate!

Let's see how accurate that is 

[Richard Fairhurst]

There's a capitalisation error in the link in the press release. Correct link appears to be http://www.networkrail.co.uk/Hendy-review/ (cap H).

[stuving]

This download link seems to work too.

[IndustryInsider]

NOTE - Link in report to actual review does not (yet?) work. I understand:

All train to be bimodes
Cardff 2019
Temple Meads 2020
Oxford later
no mention of when for Newbury

Let's see how accurate that is 

I'll give you a 1 out of 10, Graham 

Looks like the Newbury and Oxford spurs have not faced the CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) chop as many predicted, but will be delivered by the end of 2018 along with Didcot to Bristol/Cardiff.  As expected this is a delay on the original timescales, and is about a year later than Paddington to Didcot towards the end of 2017.  Cardiff to Swansea does slip into CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024).

Bi-modes will, I expect, initially be used on services from Paddington towards both the North and South Cotswold routes, including PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) fast services, as the route characteristics will suit them.  I reckon other services to Bristol/Cardiff will then slowly go over to Bi-mode's, but some HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) will continue to operate them, possibly until the end of 2018.  I can see a Didcot to Oxford shuttle DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) service operating for around a year, feeding into a largely EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) Thames Valley service from Didcot via Reading to Paddington from the end of 2017.  I can see the hourly Turbo service from Paddington to Bedwyn continuing until Newbury gets finished in at the end of 2018.  Let's see how accurate that is

[Thatcham Crossing]

Well, the rail users of Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn might be happy if no-one else is!

[Timmer]

My reading of this is not much has changed, just running a bit late and over budget.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, nowhere near as bad as some of the merchants of doom were predicting.

[stuving]

The timetable says the EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) cascade still starts next year, which it can as the EMUs to Hayes & Harlington need no new wires at all. But that leads to a minimal DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) cascade; it's the next few flips of the Chinese puzzle that matter. And I'm not so sure what and when they will be now.

[stuving]

And here's the other report, by Dame Colette Bowe, into what went wrong with the planning process. I'm guessing it doesn't need a topic of its own.

[grahame]

A roundup of this evening's press:

Network Rail sell-off to fund upgrades
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34926322

Delays to Cardiff-Swansea electrification unacceptable ^ Eluned Parrott
http://www.welshlibdems.wales/delays_to_cardiff_swansea_electrification_unacceptable_eluned_parrott?

Swansea to Cardiff rail electrification 'in jeopardy' as delay in project confirmed
http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Swansea-Cardiff-rail-electrification-jeopardy/story-28242671-detail/story.html?

Rail electrification on South Wales mainline could be delayed to 2024
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/rail-electrification-south-wales-mainline-10503465?

Autumn Statement 2015: Cost of HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) rises to more than ^55bn
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/autumn-statement/12017366/Autumn-Statement-2015-Cost-of-HS2-rises-to-more-than-55bn.html

Tories guilty of burying bad news on rail electrification delay
https://www.partyof.wales/news/2015/11/25/tories-guilty-of-burying-bad-news-on-rail-electrification-delay/?

[grahame]

Letter from the Transport Secretary to accept the Hendy report

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479969/hendy-response-letter.pdf

[grahame]

I can't help feeling that if the report had come out on any other day than the day of the Autumn Statement, the press would be making much more of it ... as it is, it feels rather as if it's drowned out by other news.   Perhaps that's not unintended.

[stuving]

I can't help feeling that if the report had come out on any other day than the day of the Autumn Statement, the press would be making much more of it ... as it is, it feels rather as if it's drowned out by other news.   Perhaps that's not unintended.

I thought the linkage between the two had been trailed for a while, and for obvious reasons. If the Hendy report came out alone, it would be subject to funding decisions and so would give scope for all manner of lurid speculation about what would never happen. And it's hard to see how the financial settlement could include any money for this (from a base of a big revenue cut) if this report didn't arrive first.

We still don't have any clarity on whether the SET^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) deliveries are to be rescheduled, or the order modified. The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) locally were splashing a headline yesterday that all the trains (in context, the GW^▸ (Great Western) SET order) would have diesel engines - whatever than means. That's not on the web site.

[paul7575]

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) locally were splashing a headline yesterday that all the trains (in context, the GW^▸ (Great Western) SET^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) order) would have diesel engines - whatever than means. That's not on the web site.

If I heard it correctly, having said that all SETs would be bi-mode, the reporter  then went on to ask if the delays meant all the new trains would be unusable for four years.  I couldn't follow his logic...

Paul