Off the rails

IT is absurd that Iain Croucher, the former chief executive of Network Rail, was able to leave the company with a pay-off, salary and other benefits that totalled more than £1.6m. This sum is not commensurate with the level of service that his organisation provides those passengers whose travel plans are disrupted.

Yet it was the lame responses of Mr Croucher, and also Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, that will have insulted those rail commuters who are left at the mercy of a network which still does not compare favourably with mainland Europe.

First, Mr Croucher. He says the sum is so large because Network Rail did not want him to work his full period of notice. That may be so – but no one compelled him to accept such a generous severance package.

Second, Mr Hammond’s response. Rather than blaming Gordon Brown and John Prescott for the manner in which they created Network Rail, following the last Tory government’s botched privatisation of the railways, travellers would like to know how the coalition intends to halt such payouts. They are none the wiser – just like those passengers who never know whether late-running trains will actually turn up or not.