£53.1 million fine for Network Rail

[The Planner]

Story here BBC

Network Rail has been fined a record £53.1m by the rail regulator for "shortfalls in performance".

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said the firm had fallen "significantly short" of punctuality targets.

It also said Network Rail had failed to deliver on some of its plans to improve its service and did not know enough about the condition of some key assets.

Network Rail said punctuality had suffered from running more services to meet higher demand.

"We accept that we have fallen short of the regulatory targets for train punctuality and that this is, in part, down to our failure to reduce infrastructure faults quickly enough," said the company's chief executive Mark Carne.


Chief executive ORR
"At the same time, the sharp increase in passenger demand has led us to run more trains at peak times, even when we know this will lead to a more congested railway and punctuality targets may suffer."

He said less crowded trains were a key priority for passengers, but providing more trains to ease congestion led to more delays.

Almost 87% of Network Rail's trains ran on time in 2013-14, against a target of 92%.

The previous highest fine imposed by the regulator was £14m for late engineering works in 2008.

Some of the money from the latest record fine will be spent on faster wi-fi for commuter trains across England and Wales, the BBC has learned.

The £90bn plan to provide faster internet - up to 10 times faster than is currently available - should be completed within three to four years.

Commuters will be able to get a connection through equipment installed alongside the track, rather than having to find a satellite signal.

'Record passengers'

The regulator did, however, note "a number of significant successes" over the past five years.

These included delivering a major rail improvement programme, including modernising train stations such as Kings Cross and Reading and electrifying railways in the north west of England. It also said the company had helped to improve safety at level crossings.

The network carried 1.5 billion passengers in 2013-14, up from 1.2 billion five years earlier.

"Network Rail has been successful in modernising and improving Britain's railways over the past five years, during a period which has seen record numbers of passengers," said ORR chief executive Richard Price.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Who will eventually be the people who pay the fine ?

 

[The Planner]

It probably doesn't, it just means it will be taken off funds for enhancements and renewals more than likely. Either that or they will look lower down the tree for "operational efficiencies" than the recent management cull, speculation of course.

 

[bnm]

The fine is to be put toward the cost of improving Wi-Fi across the network.

From the BBC:

Network Rail fine to help pay for faster train wi-fi

Millions of pounds is to be spent on faster wi-fi for commuter trains across England and Wales, the BBC has learned.

A proportion of the £90m cost of the scheme will be funded by the government from a record-breaking fine being handed to Network Rail this week.

The firm looks after much of the track, signalling and stations across Britain.

It is being punished by the Office of Rail Regulation for missing key punctuality targets on its long-distance services over five years.

Critics have long questioned the point of fining Network Rail for poor service, because in the end it is being stripped of cash that could be used to improve the lines.

Ten times faster

Now ministers say they will make sure the cash will be used to help people get online.

The new service, which could be 10 times faster than the service available at the moment, should be available within three to four years.

Network Rail says commuters will in future be able to get a connection through equipment installed alongside the track, rather than the current system of having to find a satellite signal as they go along.

Train firms will have to pitch for a slice of the money, but the government has indicated it will favour the busier commuter lines first of all - the most crowded 30% of the network, which carries 70% of the passengers.

The fine is being imposed for the late running of long distance trains on routes including Cross Country, East Coast, First Hull Trains, First TransPennine Express, Grand Central, Virgin, some First Great Western, East Midlands Trains and Greater Anglia.

Network Rail could face a potential penalty of about £70m based on the number of targets it has failed to meet. However, the BBC understands the fine will be substantially lower than this because the regulator has made an allowance for recent bad weather.

 

[lincolnshire]

If there looking for some money to pay off the fine, they best go and look at the lineside and collect up some scrap metal up and get it weighed in.

There is ton,s of the stuff just laid about and its not strategic spare,s or needed for a forthcoming job. Also save money by not buying anymore bags full of ballast, use the ones that you have all ready laid about.

You just need to look out the train windows to see it all laid about, for a company who is very keen on image should try cleaning up the lineside.

 

[Tetchytyke]

48% of my season ticket, £2000, goes to Network Rail. Guess who'll be paying for this fine then?

The ORR couldn't find their own backside with both hands and a map. Though I'm taking the cynical route with this one- the Tories look "tough on waste" whilst actually increasing costs for passengers. The governmental equivalent of the bloke in Trafalgar Square who distracts you whilst his mate lifts your wallet and iPhone.

I guess it beats making the TOCs pay for WiFi doesn't it. Can't deprive the fat cats of their caviar.

 

[Emyr]

If there looking for some money to pay off the fine, they best go and look at the lineside and collect up some scrap metal up and get it weighed in.

There is ton,s of the stuff just laid about and its not strategic spare,s or needed for a forthcoming job. Also save money by not buying anymore bags full of ballast, use the ones that you have all ready laid about.

You just need to look out the train windows to see it all laid about, for a company who is very keen on image should try cleaning up the lineside.

This issue has been raised previously on this forum, the economics of safely collecting scrap metal don't add up unless you have some other justification for the service disruption and plenty of high-value scrap to collect.

 

[Aldaniti]

Who will eventually be the people who pay the fine ?

Quite. I'm surprised people still fall for all this nonsense. British Rail Wi-Fi coming to a TOC near you soon. Surely the 2015 ticket price increases can't be too far round the corner? Can't have this sort of thing eating into dividends...

 

[Mainliner]

"The £90bn plan to provide faster internet..."

:eek:

 

[telstarbox]

This issue has been raised previously on this forum, the economics of safely collecting scrap metal don't add up unless you have some other justification for the service disruption and plenty of high-value scrap to collect.

And if the scrap was of sufficient value, surely some 'third parties' would have tried to remove it from the lineside by now...

 

[Llanigraham]

From the amount of the Staff Bonus that wasn't paid to us this year, it looks like us the staff on the ground have paid it!!

 

[HH]

You guys.

These fines have always been a silly money-go-round; I was talking to an ORR official about this very recently - he recognised the pointlessness of the procedure, but said it was more like a scoring device to show how NR were performing. I still think the director/management bonuses should be directly affected by these targets, but that's another issue.

This time at least the government has decreed that the money will be spent on something that benefits passengers. This is a great system that makes use of what's already there. Let me explain how it works and so forth.

Basically the old copper wire that connects the signals (you know the stuff that keeps getting stolen) is being gradually replaced with fibre optic (which won't get stolen). The fibre optic can handle a lot more data and therefore has a pile of spare capacity. The plan is to build trackside equipment so that train users can make use of this capacity.

NR wanted to develop this and charge for it, however there are competition issues involved in this. It's actually a pretty smart solution; it doesn't put any money in anyone's pocket except the people who will install the equipment.

 

[WatcherZero]

Having spent most of the weekend using or attempting to use onboard wi-fi I think its a great idea for investment, replacing the sattelite uplinks with trackside mesh will offer lower latency, faster speeds and more reliability. The difference between Wi-Fi in most stations and onboard was stark.

 

[TheEdge]

Having spent most of the weekend using or attempting to use onboard wi-fi I think its a great idea for investment, replacing the sattelite uplinks with trackside mesh will offer lower latency, faster speeds and more reliability. The difference between Wi-Fi in most stations and onboard was stark.

It's great idea. It means passengers can always have fast access to Twitter to complain about delays caused by under investment in the infrastructure....

 

[David Barrett]

If there looking for some money to pay off the fine, they best go and look at the lineside and collect up some scrap metal up and get it weighed in.

There is ton,s of the stuff just laid about and its not strategic spare,s or needed for a forthcoming job. Also save money by not buying anymore bags full of ballast, use the ones that you have all ready laid about.

You just need to look out the train windows to see it all laid about, for a company who is very keen on image should try cleaning up the lineside.

Agreed but furthermore I would have thought this matter to be a security imperative as well as a scrap value issue these days, although I recall, as you also will, the occasional purge on discarded trackwork by British Railways was often regarded as being a financially worthwhile exercise in lineside upkeep.

Looking at the state of some of these lineside areas I can only say that I am pleased I no longer have to cart tools etc. in the vicinity.

 

[455driver]

NR are under pressure to allow extra services to run, NR dont want to run them as it could affect punctuality, a judicial revue decides that the extra services wont affect punctuality (using computer simulations etc) so NR are forced to allow these extra services to run, in the real world these services do actually have an affect on punctuality because they have removed the 'wiggle' room from the timetable with the result that services run late, NR are then fined because of the punctuality on the line is below what is expected.

Yeah brilliant idea! :roll:

You can have a timetable where you run as many trains as you can or you can have a timetable where all the trains can run on time, unfortunately you cant have both so you have to decide where in between the two you want to be.

 

[Elecman]

We'll said 455 driver

 

[CockneySparrow]

"The £90bn plan to provide faster internet..."

:eek:

It will be spent after thousands of miles of tracks are relaid from the beeching cuts, also after HS2 and after NR have sorted out the issues they have got fined for, right! - please don't shoot me for being stupid!

 

[Bald Rick]

If there looking for some money to pay off the fine, they best go and look at the lineside and collect up some scrap metal up and get it weighed in.

There is ton,s of the stuff just laid about and its not strategic spare,s or needed for a forthcoming job. Also save money by not buying anymore bags full of ballast, use the ones that you have all ready laid about.

You just need to look out the train windows to see it all laid about, for a company who is very keen on image should try cleaning up the lineside.

There is a company wide push on doing this now. But as has been said, collecting scrap rail costs money, even after you cash it in.

 

[kylemore]

Now if they had ordered NR to build 20 odd 2 car DMUs within 6 months to be put into service in the North of England - that would have been impressive - what we have is a pointless money-go-round - WIFI on trains - who gives a...!

P.S. And we'll worry about what to do with them after electrification later - just get them built - it's an emergency - no studies, no consultations yada yada - just build the bloody things!

 

[pemma]

Now if they had ordered NR to build 20 odd 2 car DMUs within 6 months to be put into service in the North of England - that would have been impressive - what we have is a pointless money-go-round - WIFI on trains - who gives a...!

I wonder if TPE will get Wi-fi for all their trains and then if the 170/3s are cascaded to Chiltern and the 350/4s to LM they'll say we've funded Wi-fi for 3 different operators!

 

[David Barrett]

Now if they had ordered NR to build 20 odd 2 car DMUs within 6 months to be put into service in the North of England - that would have been impressive - what we have is a pointless money-go-round - WIFI on trains - who gives a...!

P.S. And we'll worry about what to do with them after electrification later - just get them built - it's an emergency - no studies, no consultations yada yada - just build the bloody things!

That's very good, being an EMT, Northern and Trans Pennine user living in North Lincolnshire and travelling mainly elsewhere in the North, I concur.

However we are talking about officialdom who by all accounts take a different view of things as compared to the user, although there are those who would doubtless prefer wifi above all else, and wonder why a large chunk of the population often expresses a malign view of authority.

 

[jon0844]

I stupidly started to read the comments on the Guardian (conclusion; renationalise the railways) but if you stop and think for a few minutes, offering a very decent and fast Wi-Fi connection is going to be a real benefit for the railway.

Yes, I use my own 3G/4G connection, but a lot of people don't. Many people are on tariffs that have really small data allowances, so Wi-FI is what they turn to. Foreign travellers don't all have roaming deals, so Wi-Fi is what they turn to. Some people have a tablet or laptop that doesn't have a SIM card slot, so Wi-Fi is what they turn to.

If you can provide a good Wi-Fi service to them, as well as people who might want to work and not just check Facebook, you're going to encourage more people to use the railway.

Of course the comments can all point to Wi-Fi only being for men in suits, but that's a load of crap and everyone knows it. Wi-Fi is used by everyone, young and old, and more likely NOT for work. It's the way of the world at the moment as people like to escape their own life to peer into the lives of others (and play games, instant message, share photos etc).

And if the fine allows Network Rail to be 'forced' to install infrastructure that might otherwise not happen due to objections from telecoms companies, then it's a pretty clever and shrewd move.

 

[David Barrett]

I do see Kylemore's point in that, when standing in a crowded vestibule somewhere, the benifit of wifi is nothing but a moot point anyway. However I must admit to being a little old fashioned here; I do have a preference for the view out of the window, that is provided darkness, a pillar or uncontrolled lineside vegitation don't prevent this, or a book.

 

[ivanhoe]

You know, I regularly travel up to Liverpool either by car or train. The car journey should take about 2 hours. If it takes 2 hours 15 minutes , I shrug my shoulders. If the train is over 10 minutes late, I shrug my shoulders. I have always said that better to be late than dead on time.
I despair of Governments who seek publicity by pretending that a fine will be re- invested in the railways. Its going to the treasury! What is the difference between 10 minutes and twelve minutes? How can 2 minutes makes such a difference to a passenger? It will invariably lead to more timetable padding in order to hide similar issues in the future. 455 driver made a great point. Have a record number of trains running and recognise that sometimes some are late or go for an easier network of fewer trains. I know which I would prefer.

 

[jon0844]

I do see Kylemore's point in that, when standing in a crowded vestibule somewhere, the benifit of wifi is nothing but a moot point anyway.

True, but that money wasn't going to go towards buying new trains or extending carriages.

Network Rail might use the money to extend platforms or modify track/signalling to allow for more paths, but a lot of people (as seen from the comments elsewhere) don't have a clue how the railway is set up.

Nor do they realise that there has to be something to encourage Network Rail to do its job properly, as a lot, perhaps most, of the delays they blame on their private fat cat operator are down to Network Rail in one way or another.

 

[BW]

Basically the old copper wire that connects the signals (you know the stuff that keeps getting stolen) is being gradually replaced with fibre optic (which won't get stolen).

Assuming they can tell the difference between the two; fibre already gets pinched from ducts under the road because it looks like copper cable to thieves.

 

[Darren R]

I stupidly started to read the comments on the Guardian (conclusion; renationalise the railways) but if you stop and think for a few minutes, offering a very decent and fast Wi-Fi connection is going to be a real benefit for the railway.

Yes, I use my own 3G/4G connection, but a lot of people don't. Many people are on tariffs that have really small data allowances, so Wi-FI is what they turn to. Foreign travellers don't all have roaming deals, so Wi-Fi is what they turn to. Some people have a tablet or laptop that doesn't have a SIM card slot, so Wi-Fi is what they turn to.

If you can provide a good Wi-Fi service to them, as well as people who might want to work and not just check Facebook, you're going to encourage more people to use the railway.

Of course the comments can all point to Wi-Fi only being for men in suits, but that's a load of crap and everyone knows it. Wi-Fi is used by everyone, young and old, and more likely NOT for work. It's the way of the world at the moment as people like to escape their own life to peer into the lives of others (and play games, instant message, share photos etc).

And if the fine allows Network Rail to be 'forced' to install infrastructure that might otherwise not happen due to objections from telecoms companies, then it's a pretty clever and shrewd move.

I understand the point you're making, but as both a rail passenger and Wi-fi user, I'd rather that the money was being spent on improvements to the actual rail infrastructure. People tend not to go by train because of free Wi-fi (although it does seem to be a reason why some chose to travel by coach.)

NR are under pressure to allow extra services to run, NR dont want to run them as it could affect punctuality, a judicial revue decides that the extra services wont affect punctuality (using computer simulations etc) so NR are forced to allow these extra services to run, in the real world these services do actually have an affect on punctuality because they have removed the 'wiggle' room from the timetable with the result that services run late, NR are then fined because of the punctuality on the line is below what is expected.

You've missed part of the cycle. Network Rail get extra money for those extra services. Punctuality drops as a result of the extra services, and consequently get a whopping fine which negates any financial gain from increased revenue. Extra trains means extra wear-and-tear on the infrastructure, so Network Rail have to increase their maintenance spend.

It's an eminently sensible way to run any business!

 

[carriageline]

Assuming they can tell the difference between the two; fibre already gets pinched from ducts under the road because it looks like copper cable to thieves.

And plus, not all of it is possible to be replaced with F/optic. Mainly as, you can replace the links from box/interlocking to the location cases, but then you need good old copper to the signal heads as they need power. That's how I understand it anyway.

And as you say, normally the metal fairies just see cable, not if it's fibre, copper or just tubing (like blown fibre)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WatcherZero]

Ironically NR saying this wont affect any programs as they had always budgeted to pay the fine. Eminently sensible when you think about it, factoring risk into their plans.