Network Rail's poor track record casts rail freight evidence into doubt

At Transport Questions this week, Anne Main challenged the Minister to ensure that Network Rail's poor service delivery track record is taken into account when considering the company's evidence to the rail freight Planning Inquiry.

At Transport Questions this week, Anne Main, MP for St Albans, challenged the Minister for Transport to ensure that Network Rail's poor service delivery track record is taken into account when considering the company's evidence to the rail freight Planning Inquiry.

At the Inquiry last year, Network Rail submitted written evidence, insisting they could cope with the massive infrastructure changes the plan would need, but many - including First Capital Connect, who run the passenger route - were sceptical about the evidence.

Anne asked the Minister:

"This week, Mr. Bill Emery of the Office of Rail Regulation severely criticised Network Rail's punctuality, delivery and overruns. Will the Secretary of State bear Network Rail's poor performance in mind in the rail freight application process, given its blithe assurances in my constituency that it would not cause delays, and not take its evidence as seriously as it would like her to? "

The Minister responded:

"It is absolutely true that Network Rail has not performed as well as it should have over the past six months or so. However, it is also true that Network Rail has developed a world-class engineering organisation. I have absolute faith that whatever difficulties Network Rail has to overcome - and there are difficulties - it will manage to produce the excellent railway service that we all want. Network Rail has already committed to a 31 per cent. improvement in efficiencies over the current control period. We will find out exactly what the performance demand will be from the Office of Rail Regulation by the end of this week. However, I am confident that, in contrast with the awfulness of Railtrack, which was introduced by the previous Conservative Government, Network Rail will deliver for the passengers of this country."

Upon leaving the chamber, Anne said:

"In the course of the evidence sessions at the rail freight inquiry, Network Rail attempted to support the application by submitting written evidence which gave confident assurances that it would be able to cope with the massive infrastructure reorganisation, line and tunnel upgrades, and comprehensive structural work needed to bring this inadequate line up to a standard acceptable for rail freight use. First Capital Connect submitted evidence in person and answered a series of technical queries during the evidence sessions, squarely dismissing Network Rail's facts, figures and ability to deliver this flawed application.

My constituents, St Albans District Council, Hertfordshire County Council and First Capital Connect have all reject this proposal, and I have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that, not only will the scheme massively compromise the local environment and infrastructure, but it will have a fundamental and long-lasting negative impact on many thousands of my constituents who commute into London, who are the life-blood of St Albans. The Minister must reject this rail freight proposal and treat any supporting evidence from Network Rail as being shaky and overly optimistic - they can't deliver to their customers now and they won't deliver if extra pressures are put on the line.""