Wednesday 4 Dec 2002
NETWORK RAIL COMPLETES PUBLIC MEMBER SELECTION PROCESS
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Network Rail today unveils its Public Members whose appointment will ensure independent oversight, strong accountability and high standards of corporate governance. 84 Public Members were selected by an independent Membership Selection Panel (MSP) from a strong field of some 1241 applicants.
Network Rail has no shareholders and will pay no dividends. Instead, it has Members and will reinvest any operating surplus in the rail network. The principal role of the Public Members, and the 31 Industry Members now appointed, is to hold the Board accountable for its performance and contribute to the successful delivery of Network Rail’s plans for safe, reliable and efficient rail infrastructure.
Public Members, who responded to a national advertising campaign, were chosen according to their skills and experience. Industry Members are representatives of rail licence holders, the companies which operate Britain’s rail network.
Public Members
51 of the Public Members announced today are private individuals. 33 have been drawn from a wide variety of stakeholder organisations including passenger authorities, regional transport executives, disabled access groups and business representatives. All have demonstrated a commitment to making a constructive contribution to Network Rail.
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Members - 2
The successful private individuals represent a diverse range of backgrounds including; rail service users, community service, finance, rail employees, industry and public safety. The youngest is aged 20, the most senior 75.
A considerable number of commercial organisations and customers submitted applications to become Public Members. There was also strong interest from representative organisations and associations, which has been reflected in the Membership Selection Panel’s final recommendations. 10 of the 33 organisations represented are from the public sector.
There was an unusually high response rate (48%) of completed application forms received from prospective Public Members out of the 2500 membership packs which were requested. Successful candidates have been selected from Cornwall to the Highlands and every region in between. One notable feature of the process was the particularly high quality of applications received from women, who make up 23.5% of Public Members.
An overall majority of Network Rail’s 115 strong Membership body is drawn from the private sector. Public Members will serve an initial term of 3 years. Membership is non-transferable and cannot be sold.
Clear division of responsibility
Network Rail is a company limited by guarantee, run along commercial lines but with no shareholders. Its Board of Directors has sole responsibility for the running and management of the Company and for strategy, financing and decision making. The members’ role is to hold the Board accountable for that management. Members will review the performance of Network Rail against its targets and ensure high levels of corporate governance. The day-to-day operation and management of the business will be the responsibility of the Board.
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Members - 3Independent Membership Selection Panel
Independent Membership Selection Panel
The independent Membership Selection Panel comprises Sir Malcolm Field (ex Chief Executive of WH Smith Plc and Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority from 1996 to 2001), as Chairman, Sir Edward Osmotherly (previously the Local Government Ombudsman and chairman of the Commission for Local Administration in England) and Sir Robert Smith, (a non-executive director of Network Rail and Chairman of the Weir Group plc and former Vice Chairman of Deutsche Asset Management).
Sir Malcolm Field, Chairman of the Membership Selection Panel, says: “We have been greatly impressed by the quality and experience of the candidates who applied to become Public Members of Network Rail. The Public Members selected have a key role to play in holding the Board to account and ensuring the delivery of high standards of corporate governance.”
Ian McAllister, Chairman of Network Rail, says; “I am delighted to extend a warm welcome to our new Members. I am sure that they will work with us to help deliver the high quality rail infrastructure the travelling public has a right to expect.”
NETWORK RAIL MEMBERS
Industry Members
Amec Rail Ltd
Amey Rail Limited
Arriva Trains Northern
Balfour Beatty Rail Plant Limited
Bombardier Transportation UK Ltd
c2c Rail Limited
Connex South Eastern Limited
English Welsh & Scottish Railway Limited
Eurostar (UK) Ltd
First Engineering Ltd
Freightliner Ltd
G.T. Railway Maintenance Ltd
GB Railfreight Ltd
GNER Holdings Ltd
Grand Central Railway Company Ltd
GrantRail Ltd
Great Western Trains Co Ltd
Heathrow Express Operating Company Ltd
Jarvis Fastline Limited
London Underground Limited
Merlin Rail Limited
Serco Railtest Limited
Siemens Transportation Systems
South West Trains Limited
Thameslink Rail Ltd
The Chiltern Railway Company Ltd
Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive
West Coast Railway Company Ltd
West Coast Traincare Ltd (Alstom)
West Coast Trains Limited
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Members - 4
Other members
Strategic Rail Authority
Public Members (Organisations)
Advantage West Midlands (representing all English RDAs)
Airport Operators Association
Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen
Association of Community-Rail Partnerships
Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers
Birmingham Chamber of Commerce & Industry
British Tourist Authority
C.T.C (Cyclists)
Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions
Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
Devon and Cornwall Business Council
Eurotunnel plc
Freight Transport Association
Highland Rail Partnership
Local Government Association of England and Wales
London First
National Farmers Union of England and Wales
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
Passenger Transport Executive Group
Private Wagon Federation
Royal Association for Disability & Rehabilitation
Rail Freight Group
Railway Industry Association
Rail Passengers Council
Railway Civil Engineers' Association
Scottish Executive
South East England Regional Assembly
The Crime Concern Trust Ltd
Transport 2000 Ltd
Transport For London
Transport Salaried Staffs Association
Welsh Assembly
West Midlands Regional Assembly
Public Members (Individuals)
Anja Amsel
David Barker
Robert Barton
Roderick Braithwaite
James Branston
Anthony Bright
Geoffrey Butterwick
Dugald Cameron
Frances Christley
Dudley Coates
Sarah Collett
Tim Creed
Thomas Dalziel
Julianne Dunn
Tom Everington
Peter Gavan
David Gilchrist
David Green
Alistair Greig
Richard Hadden
Andrew Izard
Maureen Kavanagh
Graeme Keedy
Ivan Lee
Andrew Lowery
Philip Lund
Michael Mathieson
Peter Morris
Margaret Munro
Adetokunbo Ogunbiyi
Christopher Owen
Janet Pavey
Simon Pilkington
Simon Pitcher
Hazel Prowse
Jacqueline Pryor
Simon Reed
Mohamed Saheid
Roderick Shelton
Deion Smith
Christopher Smith
Tanya Spensley
Barbara Spring
Patricia Steel OBE
David Stewart-David
Christopher Tarry
Ralph Tiffin
Bill Ure
Arun Vaidya-Nathan
Patrick Waterhouse
Meurig Williams
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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