Media centre

Friday 5 Mar 2004

NETWORK RAIL REJECTS TRANSPORT 2000 REPORT AS ‘LIVING IN THE PAST’

Region & Route:

National

Network Rail today dismissed Transport 2000’s report ‘The Rising Cost of Britain’s Railways’ as ‘outdated criticism’.  A Network Rail spokesman said; “It is small wander this organisation is called Transport 2000 as it is clearly living in the past.  Network Rail inherited significant cost inflation and inefficiencies from Railtrack, but is already tackling this legacy and bringing down costs. The only ‘devastating’ thing about this report is its lack of substance and reliance on anecdotal evidence. “Network Rail is improving performance, reducing delays and bringing down costs.  These well-worn criticisms are outdated.” Additional information:

• Network Rail’s Efficiency Improvement Programme (which includes headcount reduction of 2000 within 3 years) was published back in June 2003.   It targets cost savings of 31% within five years.
• Network Rail is bringing maintenance in-house to create a single unified operation with clear lines of management accountability.  Signalling design has already been brought in-house.  During the past week, the company has awarded the first of its latest generation of new, efficient track renewal contracts.  All these initiatives are driving down costs.
• Transport 2000 admit this report is the result of ‘discussions’.  ‘Discussions’ are no substitute for detailed analysis.  The claims that some of these conversations took place ‘undercover’ are a pure PR gimmick. 

·        The notion that there is ‘secrecy’ surrounding costs is farcical.  The independent consultants (who were appointed as part of the Rail Regulator’s Interim Review) have produced thousands of pages of intelligent analysis of the railway’s cost base, all of which is available on the ORR’s website. For media enquiries please contact the Network Rail press office on 020 7557 8292 / 3