Modern Railways – April 2019

News Front

10 Modern Railways April 2019 http://www.modern-railways.com

HAINES SETS OUT PLAN TO CHANGE NR

DEVOLUTION TO GO FASTER AND FURTHER

NETWORK RAIL must become a

customer-focused organisation, with

delivery of the timetable front and

centre, its Chief Executive Andrew

Haines has said.

In a briefing to journalists on

1 March, Mr Haines said the key

for NR was to change its mindset

rather than its structure. However,

he also said the organisation

required fundamental change and

tinkering was not an option.

Mr Haines was discussing the

restructuring proposed by the

outcome of his 100-day review of

the organisation. The restructuring is

targeted at creating the opportunity

for more devolved decision-making,

something Mr Haines said he

had identified as being his strong

preference prior to taking on the

role. Mr Haines said devolution

would ensure accountability and

authority for decisions was held at

Route level, whereas currently Route

Managing Directors do not have

authority to make key decisions.

Having Managing Directors on the

executive would create ownership

at the top table, Mr Haines said.

RESTRUCTURING

As explained last month (p10), the

proposed restructuring will see an

increase in the number of Routes

to 13, supported from above by

five overarching Regions (Eastern,

London North Western, Scotland,

Southern, and Wales and Western).

At the same time key functions

are to be devolved to Route level,

with some organisations such as

Infrastructure Projects abolished and

others split up. Mr Haines said there

would be no increase in headcount

as a result of the changes, and over

time there would in fact be fewer

management roles in NR. He also

said the number of Routes could

grow, with for example a dedicated

Chiltern Route a possibility. Asked

about the East Coast, earmarked as a

dedicated Route, Mr Haines said NR

was still working through options

and that establishing a regional

partnership with the operator would

be ‘tricky but not impossible’.

Routes will be responsible for

running the railway on a day-to-day

basis, for improving performance and

for relationships with operators. The

Regions will be ‘thin but sufficient’

and will support the Routes and

absorb the devolved functions, with

responsibility for relationships with

stakeholders and funders. Mr Haines

said he aimed to introduce cabinet

responsibility for decision-making,

promoting collective agreement

on such matters as standards.

Functions to be devolved are IP,

the Safety Technical and Engineering

function, Group Digital Railway and

elements of the System Operator

function, with this process running to

the end of 2020. Route Services will

be retained as a central function, and

a new Network Services directorate

will incorporate the ‘virtual Route’

for freight and national passenger

operators along with Digital Railway

and national programmes. Mr Haines

said the message received from

operators served by the virtual

Route is that they would prefer

this to be at the centre of NR.

Asked about digital railway,

Mr Haines said the sponsorship for

schemes would be within Network

Services but the articulation of

outcomes would be devolved, with

Regions and Routes determining

the desired passenger and freight

outputs. He noted the East Coast

main line project as an example

of this, which is being led by LNE

Route MD Rob McIntosh and is

seeking to deliver European Train

Control System (ETCS) and Traffic

Management on the line. He said the

real test of the East Coast pilot would

be whether it delivered affordability,

noting NR faces a massive signalling

renewals challenge over the

coming 15 years, with funding

not sufficient for the required

renewals at current cost levels.

MORE PLANNERS RECRUITED

On timetabling, Mr Haines said the

change in December 2019 will be

the first in two years where the level

of changes is not constrained by

capacity in NR’s System Operator

function at Milton Keynes, a result of

the increased head count in the train

planning team. He highlighted trials

involving operators having direct

input into train planning, with this year

to be used to gather evidence and a

future direction to be set out in 2020.

In personnel terms, five Regional

managing directors will be appointed,

along with a Network Services

director, Technical Authority director

and National Transformation

Programme director, with the

appointments expected to come into

effect in June. Infrastructure Projects

director Francis Paonessa is leaving

NR, and Group Digital Railway director

David Waboso has now retired from

the role, with Stuart Calvert leading

the DR function on a temporary basis.

Route leadership structures will be

defined at a regional level in future.

On safety, Mr Haines said there

was still work to do regarding the

outcomes in NR’s scorecard, noting

the ‘absurd’ safe work packs given

to staff working on a possession,

which he said would be rationalised.

Freight: covered by the ‘virtual’ Route. This is No 88002 at

Greenholme on 8 March 2019 with a container train. John Hales

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