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Network Rail chairman to stand down



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Published Date: 03 October 2008
NETWORK Rail chairman Sir Ian McAllister is to step down from his post next year, it was announced today.
Sir Ian, 65, was heavily criticised for the Network Rail (NR) engineering overruns at the last new year which resulted in travel chaos for thousands of passengers.

He said he had decided not to go into his NR office as he would only get in the way
.

NR was fined a record £14 million by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) for the overruns, the worst of which was at Rugby on the busy London to Scotland East Coast Main Line.

NR said he would be stepping down from NR's board following the not-for-dividend company's annual meeting next July. He will stay with the company until a successor is found.

NR's group finance director Ron Henderson has also said he is going to retire.

Sir Ian has been with NR since it took over in 2002 from the ill-fated Railtrack which was put into administration.

Although NR has been seen to be a huge improvement on Railtrack, the company has faced repeated criticism over its performance from the ORR, which wants NR to cut costs.

NR has also been under the cosh from those opposed to the bonus payments made to senior executives, including Mr Henderson.

Sir Ian said today: "Network Rail has delivered substantial improvements in the safety, reliability and efficiency of the railway over the past six years.

"Safety is at record levels, train punctuality is now above 90%, and we are on track to reduce cost by around 30% by the next annual general meeting. I have led the board for over six years now and a great deal has been achieved in that time.

"As the company enters a new phase in its development, it is entirely appropriate that a new chairman helps take the company forward.

"The next challenge is for NR to help deliver an expanded and enhanced railway to meet the growing demand from passenger and freight customers. My role now will be to help find a replacement and see through a smooth transition."



The full article contains 359 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 03 October 2008 8:07 AM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: The railways
 
1

Alan B,

03/10/2008 10:22:35
The Scottish rail track should be split off from network rail to form a new scottish track company accountable to the scottish parliament.

The current arrangments are a mess and are just storing up political problems. The sp have control over bits of rail but not others. What happens if the tories want to repriviatise rail track.

Transport within Scotland should be a fully devolved matter.
2

SHANGHAI SCOT,

Shanghai 03/10/2008 13:29:41
Despite all the troubles under his watch, still was given a gong.

Agree with Alan B, the reality of the situation as it is at present, management companies using a myriad of subcontractors, end result, very few dedicated railwayment.

I believe it was Chris Green who initiated 'Scotrail' branding in the 80's, last of the real railwaymen
3

danielrober,

03/10/2008 16:01:51
OH look Alec.S, there's three grains of power. Grad IT.

# 1 & 2.

Is there any reason why the SNP wants this power, apart from making sure the rails are ran as expensively as the new shinny bridge. Here comes Scotland's next world record - the most expensive track per meter.

Or is this just an excuse to shut down the border railway line before its built?
4

Alan B,

03/10/2008 16:17:02
#danielrober

What are you talking about?

I am just making a personal observation I do not know what the official snp policy is with regard to rail.

In the last decade we first had labour creating a strategic rail authority. A few years later it abolished it as it was failing.

Byers took over transport from Prescott and lied to bankrupt railtrack. The trade union leaders said the means ie lying, justified the ends, nationalisation of railtrack.

We had devolution and trains were not devolved. Then afew yrs later under Darling as uk transport minister trains were devolved to the scottish parliament. However track was not. With the effective nationalisation of track it made is far easier to devolve track. At the time of devolution railtrack was private and splitting it up for devolution would have been very difficult.

When Darling devolved trains to Scotland he did it in a way that needed not new Westminster legislation. ie he did not want to open up the Scotland Act.

That meant that trains were rightly devolved but track was still controlled from Westminster. While this was a step in the right direction it was also done in a politically expedient way and not what was best for trains in Scotland. Fudging issues like that can obviously lead to a bun fight.

The scottish government is now responsible for funding track improvement but cannot control its structure. That is barmy.

We are in a position where the scottish governmnet will fund a project but have to negotiate with national rail who may have completely different political objectives from their political masters south of the border.

As such it makes sense for the sp to take over complete control of scottish trains for the benifit of scotland run according to the democratic priorities of the scottish parliament.

It would alos mean scotland would not be at the end of a whim from government policy south of the border where in the example i gave the tories wanted to privatise railtr
5

Alan B,

03/10/2008 16:17:40
cont..

...privatise railtrack again.

The fact is their are many ways to structure a railway and scotland needs to ensure the structure is correct for the needs of scottish rail.

Talking about it being more expensive is silly as all that i am talking about is devolving the current structure. As such the sp would continue to finance projects and the new scottish rail track company could still get private engineering companies to carry out the work.

Obviously having control of the structure means all aspects of its structure could be reviewed to ensure improved performance.
6

danielrober,

03/10/2008 18:04:26
# 4 Alan B,

They are rhetorical questions. I don't expect policy information, from you - how could you do that?

Look

Just how much of the economy do you think the SNP are going to take into government hands?

The SNP leader has already ignored a vote in the SP against this parties views on alcohol and is going ahead anyway. So exactly where do you think the limits of power for the SNP will be?
7

Alan B,

03/10/2008 18:36:03
#danielrober

I do not know how your posts are relevent to what i am suggesting.

All i am suggesting is the mess over trains be cleaned up by not having some bits like track run and regualated by westminster and other bits run by the scottish parliament.

It makes sense to have clear lines of responsibility and as such I am suggesting that responsibility for rail track should move to being a scottish parliament responsibility and not a westerminster responsibility.

"Just how much of the economy do you think the SNP are going to take into government hands"

As such i do not know how your statement above has any relevence. Rail track has already been nationalised effectively with national rail when Byers bankrupted railtrack. If it is a pro privatisation statement. Which is implied by "being in the governments hands" you do not make an argument for privatisation.

As such i really am struggling to see what your statements have to do with what I posted.

A ban on under 21 buying alcohol is a topic on another thread and not really the discussion. Yes here is a liberatian argument that with this and previous governments with ID card, number of day detension, bans on alcohol in public places, smoking bans. But not really sure what relevence that has to my point about how best to structure a railway.
8

danielrober,

03/10/2008 21:35:35
Alan.B

As the SNP push for more power, more influence and more decisions they naturally comes across what they consider to be vested interests. People who disagree with them and have 'other points of view'. To the SNP these people are vested interests to be dealt with in time. To those of us in these roles, there are our jobs and we have had poor experiences of political influence. Sometimes these experiences have made worse by professional attitude that accepts risks and mistakes.

Exploring new areas of interest is wonderfully distracting and i respect those who seek to expand their skills and experiences. BUT, the SNP are charging at dozens of entire sectors. To say the least bulls i china shops.

I see Alec.S in the Scots Parliament seeking to replace debate with machines, machines that he has only recently taken an interest in. The expectations placed on those technical people is scandalous and unfair. Same projects will be saved, puled out of the hat, but only if ambitions is curtailed.

A modesty of ambition is the last thing I see in Alec.S. Shame.

 

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