‘How rail bosses took their eye off the ball’

Norman Baker said he wanted Network Rail to co-ordinate more closely with the train companies which run services, but ruled out reorganisation of the system to create “vertically integrated” companies responsible for both trains and tracks in the different regions of the country.

Mr Baker’s comments follow yesterday’s report from the Office of Rail Regulation which found that Network Rail had failed to deliver plans to renew Britain’s railways despite being entrusted with billions of pounds of public money.

Failures in the firm’s drainage and embankment systems have increased tenfold during the past two years, the ORR said. It found the company paid “inadequate attention” to this area which hampered preparation for adverse winter conditions.

Its annual assessment of Network Rail’s performance also showed a backlog of maintenance work and found improvements in efficiency have slowed down

Mr Baker said the company had been “delivering quite well” on the Government’s £37 billion infrastructure investment programme, which he described as the biggest since Victorian times.

But he added: “ They’ve taken their eye off the ball (on) the day-to-day maintenance of the network, which is leading to an increased number of overruns on engineering works and unnecessary delays for passengers as a consequence of minor failures in the network.

“The Rail Regulator has set out very clearly their concerns. They can require Network Rail to adjust their programme, and that’s what they are doing.”

Mr Baker said that a pilot was under way in the Wessex area to trial greater co-ordination between Network Rail and the regional railway operator.

But asked whether this could lead to a move towards “vertical integration” of the system, Mr Baker said: “We’re very keen to have much greater co-ordination between Network Rail and the train companies, and that’s got to be good for the passenger and that’s what’s happening now.

“Integration but not reorganisation because what we don’t want to do at a time of massive investment is to throw all the pieces up in the air and see where they land. We’ve got to concentrate on delivering a massive investment programme - £37 billion in the next five years we are spending as a Government on the existing railway, to do with the massive increase in passenger numbers. We don’t want to divert that attention to reorganisations.”