Friday 9 May 2008
NETWORK RAIL RESPONDS TO ORR FINE NEWS
- Region & Route:
- National
The ORR today confirmed that its proposed £14m fine was to be imposed but that it would not be used, as NetworkRail had suggested, for passenger improvements.
Iain Coucher, Chief Executive, said: “Network Rail has already accepted the ORR decision to fine the company £14m. We had suggested that this sum be invested into the rail network to fund improvements which would benefit passengers, a suggestion supported by many in the industry. We are disappointed that this won’t happen. However, we accept today’s judgement and will be paying the fine shortly.
"Since the problems at New Year, the company has made significant changes to the way we plan and carry out big improvement work that has already helped to deliver dozens of projects to time and without unplanned impact on passengers and freight users.
"Our focus remains tight as we continue our work building bigger, better, higher performing railway."
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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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