Network Rail's electrification upgrade delayed, now restarted, by government

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

http://www.expressandstar.com/business/city-news/2015/06/11/network-rail-debt-soars-to-38bn/

Performance "Isn't yet where we want it to be" has got to be the understatement of the year so far!

It's fortunate that the taxpayer is there to pick up the bill.

[ChrisB]

89+% isn't actually as poor as some TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)!!

[TaplowGreen]

http://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/18157/network-rail-monitor-2014-15-q3-4.pdf

Here's the report - makes pretty grim reading.

[didcotdean]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News

The government says it will delay or cut back a number of modernisation projects planned for Network Rail.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin says rising costs and missed targets make the ^38.5bn plan untenable.

Network Rail's chief executive told the BBC that the plan, which was launched in April last year as the "largest modernisation of the railways since Victorian times", was too ambitious.

Mr McLoughlin also said Network Rail's chairman would leave the group. Richard Parry-Jones will leave after his three year term at Network Rail, which controls 2,500 stations as well as tracks, tunnels and level crossings. He will be replaced by Sir Peter Hendy, the current commissioner of Transport for London.

The projects at most risk of being delayed are the electrification of the Great Western Railway to Swansea, as well as the electrification of the Midland Mainline. The chief executive of Network Rail, Mark Carne, told the BBC the challenges of delivering myriad improvement projects - such as the electrification of the Great Western line to South Wales, improved punctuality for millions of passengers and the renewal of hundreds of miles of track - while still running a railway seven days a week were simply overwhelming.

"Over the last year, it has become obvious that the challenges of operating, maintaining and enhancing the railway are significant," he said. "I think it's time to level with the public and say that some of these extraordinary projects that we absolutely need are going to take longer and are going to cost more than we originally thought. "We are going to take the summer to re-evaluate the extension of the programme - we need to do that properly with the Department for Transport and, of course, looking at the impact on trains as well."

He said it would not be possible to estimate the impact of the delays on the final cost.
Mr Carne said it was important to be honest with the travelling public: "Rather than beating ourselves up over some rather arbitrary target, I think we should level with people and reset expectations around what we can deliver.
"Our railway is a great success story, passenger numbers have doubled in the last 20 years - but it's a huge challenge to transform the performance of our railway while still providing a great service to the four-and-a-half million people that use our railway every day."

[ChrisB]

Good way to cut costs!delay the work into the next Control Period.... I thought that CP5^▸ (Control Period 5 - the five year period between 2014 and 2019) would survive & CP6^▸ (Control Period 6 - The five year period between 2019 and 2024) get large cuts, but the lack of staff has been used to cut sooner

[Timmer]

Surely Dft have to place an order for more DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) stock. Transpennine Express trains are close to bursting at the seems with the planned electrification bringing in new rolling stock put on the back burner. That looks a long way off now.

Regards Swansea likely to get the chop wires wise, where does that leave the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) order, less 9 car electrics with 9 car bi-modes ordered?

[Timmer]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today's Transport correspondent Paul Clifton has just tweeted:

Electrification to Oxford is "vulnerable" say staff. Electric spine route "on pause."

Report on BBC South Today after the 1pm news.

[Timmer]

Statement to the House of Commons by Transport Secretary:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/network-rails-performance

[Kernow Otter]

Government needs to be brave, and 'pause' HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) until the existing railway has been dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.

[ChrisB]

won't happen....too much egg on face

[didcotdean]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today's Transport correspondent Paul Clifton has just tweeted:

Electrification to Oxford is "vulnerable" say staff. Electric spine route "on pause."

Report on BBC South Today after the 1pm news.

Claimed additionally in the report that at the time electrification should have reached Swansea it might only have got as far as Swindon.

[broadgage]

Surely Dft have to place an order for more DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) stock. Transpennine Express trains are close to bursting at the seems with the planned electrification bringing in new rolling stock put on the back burner. That looks a long way off now.

Regards Swansea likely to get the chop wires wise, where does that leave the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) order, less 9 car electrics with 9 car bi-modes ordered?

My natural cynicism leads me to suspect that the order for electric IEP sets will be reduced in either train length or number of trains, and that the diesel order will be increased, but by less than the reduction in electric sets.
For example order 20 fewer electric trains and 8 more diesel ones.

And announce that the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) are to be life extended and re-deployed from the Electrified bit of the west to other areas where electrification is to be paused.
Then in a few years time announce that life extending the HSTs is not in fact viable, and that "some" overcrowding on DMUs will persist for a "few" years until electrification in the late 2020s, or perhaps a few years after that.

[didcotdean]

Speech given by Patrick McLoughlin here. (As above - hadn't refreshed.)

As well as the electric spine, MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about) electrification seems to have been pushed out into future with concentration of available resources (people and money) on the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about).

[ChrisB]

Statement to the House of Commons by Transport Secretary:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/network-rails-performance

Same link....

[Timmer]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today's Transport correspondent Paul Clifton has just tweeted:

Electrification to Oxford is "vulnerable" say staff. Electric spine route "on pause."

Report on BBC South Today after the 1pm news.

Looks like the main focus is now on the main line to Bristol and Cardiff
Didcot to Oxford electrification is under threat
High Output Electrification Train described as 'a white elephant'