Monday 28 Jun 2004
NETWORK RAIL BRINGS OVER 400 MAINTENANCE WORKERS BACK ‘IN-HOUSE’
- Region & Route:
Network Rail took direct control for the maintenance of the infrastructure in the Greater Manchester area from First Engineering on Saturday 26 June, marking some 70% of the national rail network now under direct company control. The move sees approximately 440 workers moving back in-house and continues Network Rail’s strategy of unifying the operation and maintenance of the railway.
The Greater Manchester area is part of Network Rail’s London North Western territory and covers the routes out of Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria, stretching into parts of Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire.
Creating a single integrated rail maintenance operation will deliver three key benefits:
· Consistent application of high standards of rail maintenance across the area.
· Significant efficiency savings to be delivered from the annual maintenance budget.
· Continued improvement in track-side safety standards.
This move forms part of Network Rail’s key strategic decision to bring rail maintenance in-house, the most fundamental restructuring of Britain’s railway since British Rail was reorganised in 1994, two years before privatisation. The transfer is the culmination of months of planning and preparation and ensures that maintenance is carried out by a permanent workforce of well trained individuals committed to a strong safety culture.
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Robbie Burns, Network Rail’s Route Director for London North Western said: “Rail maintenance is a central part of Network Rail’s operation. Unifying maintenance and the operation of the railway under one roof will bring many benefits and help to deliver a better railway for the passenger.
“The management and staff of First Engineering have been very professional and without their help this major organisational change could not have happened as quickly or as smoothly as it has.
“We are delighted to welcome our new colleagues to Network Rail.”
The new employees are an experienced and skilled workforce and include managerial and clerical staff, signalling technicians, track workers, overhead line technicians and fixed plant technicians.
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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