Network Rail fined for allowing trains to use storm-damaged viaduct

[whole diary]

[grahame]

We seem to have a spate of outages ... Appleby, Lamingon, Bleaneau Festniog ...

Lamington is due to re-open next week, I read, and the Bleaneau Ffestiniog line is rarely open for more than a few weeks at a time (probably a gross exaggeration, but that what it seems like).

The course of justice runs very slow ... 20 months later, Network Rail have come to court over Lamington.

From LBC

Network Rail has been fined ?10,000 for allowing trains to travel at more than 100mph over a storm-damaged viaduct on the West Coast Main Line.

The Government-owned company responsible for Britain?s rail infrastructure was handed the punishment at Lanark Sheriff Court on November 18, rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about)) said.

Lamington Viaduct ? which carries trains travelling between Carlisle and Glasgow across the River Clyde in South Lanarkshire ? was badly damaged by severe storms in late 2015.

Network Rail allowed several trains to use the crossing before it was closed for seven weeks for major repairs to its foundations.

So - Network Rail have been fined 10000 pounds.  Network Rail is a Government body and the fine goes to The Government.  What's the point?

[Ralph Ayres]

Isn't the point really to confirm that Network Rail didn't correctly apply the relevant rules and shouldn't have allowed use to continue, rather than to "punish" them?

[Electric train]

So - Network Rail have been fined 10000 pounds.  Network Rail is a Government body and the fine goes to The Government.  What's the point?

The point is its a point of Law, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have been prosecuted and fined.  The level of the fine is small, any large sum would mean less money to invest and as you said it just goes back to the Treasury anyway.  I suspect NR will have pleaded guilty, which will have an effect on the level of the fine.

What the public do not see is the work NR does with the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) to deal with these prosecutions in the ORR dual roll as the Regulator and the H & S Inspectorate for Railways, and changes are made to processes, funding etc

[stuving]

So - Network Rail have been fined 10000 pounds.  Network Rail is a Government body and the fine goes to The Government.  What's the point?

The point is its a point of Law, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have been prosecuted and fined.  The level of the fine is small, any large sum would mean less money to invest and as you said it just goes back to the Treasury anyway.  I suspect NR will have pleaded guilty, which will have an effect on the level of the fine.

What the public do not see is the work NR does with the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) to deal with these prosecutions in the ORR dual roll as the Regulator and the H & S Inspectorate for Railways, and changes are made to processes, funding etc

And it's important that it's the same law applied in the same courts to a government or state-owned organisation as for a private one. This commonality runs right through English law, as opposed to (e.g.) France where there is a parallel administrative court system of three tiers. (Though whether this specific matter would be dealt with there, or in a criminal court, I don't know.)

[TaplowGreen]

Why not deduct it from Network Rail's Directors bonuses?

[Electric train]

Why not deduct it from Network Rail's Directors bonuses?

This year NR^» (Network Rail - home page) directors and senior managers are not getting a bonus, it was decided by the NR board to for go the bonus this year, all other staff, including frontline staff the bonus has been servilely capped.

[stuving]

Why was there such a long delay before this court case? The event was in 2015, the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) report in 2016, and in 2017 ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) were talking about NR^» (Network Rail - home page) improving their procedures but not saying anything about a prosecution.