Media centre

Wednesday 10 Mar 2004

NETWORK RAIL 18 MONTH ANNIVERSARY

Region & Route:

National

On the day Network Rail completed its acquisition of Railtrack PLC and assumed responsibility for Britain’s rail infrastructure, Chairman Ian McAllister said: “We can produce real improvements for rail users within eighteen months” - a promise the company is starting to deliver. Network Rail is about to celebrate its 18 month anniversary - a significant landmark in the company’s short history - and will mark the occasion with a special media event.  The event, hosted by Network Rail senior directors, will be held on board Network Rail’s very own ‘Dr Yellow’ –   the New Measurement Train (NMT) - modelled on the original Japanese inspection train and introduced by Network Rail last year to provide unprecedented levels of information on asset condition. The anniversary event, taking place on Friday 19 March, will take journalists on a return journey from St. Pancras to Bedford.  During the journey, which will take just over an hour each way, Network Rail chairman Ian McAllister, chief executive John Armitt and deputy chief executive Iain Coucher will give a presentation in the train’s conference coach, detailing the 18 months of the company so far.      Since the acquisition of Railtrack on 3 October 2002, some massive steps have been taken and significant progress has been made.  The announcement last October that all maintenance work was to be brought back in- house was perhaps the biggest shake up of the rail industry since privatisation.                                                              - more -                                                                                                                                  18mnths-2                                                                                                          Furthermore, a crucial agreement has been reached with the Rail Regulator with regard to funding, that guarantees income streams for the next five years and puts the financing of the railway on a stable long term footing. Network Rail is already showing tangible evidence of improvements to performance.  Recent figures show that performance in the Reading area, the first to see maintenance brought back in house last June, has improved 40% on last year over the past five periods to date.  Nationally, performance for the last quarter of 2003 was the best for four years, with delays attributed to the company tumbling by 26%.  This reduction meant that delay minutes were at their lowest level for this quarter since before the Hatfield crash in October 2000. Network Rail Chairman Ian McAllister said this week: “Over the past 18 months we have made significant progress in our goal to deliver a safe and reliable railway.  We have made major changes to the way in which the company operates, that will put us in a better position to drive this progress on.  Already, we are starting to see some reward for the hard work that has been put in. “But we also realise that this is only the beginning.  On the day Network Rail took over      18 months ago I said ‘it will take three to five years to deliver the type of rail infrastructure that passengers have a right to expect in the 21st Century’.  I stand by that forecast and whilst we are making progress, there is a long long way to go.”