{"id":52169,"date":"2015-01-05T15:58:04","date_gmt":"2015-01-05T15:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=9820d65c0daf485e2f87936ca774e570"},"modified":"2015-01-05T15:58:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-05T15:58:04","slug":"statement-to-parliament-christmas-rail-disruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=52169","title":{"rendered":"Statement to Parliament: Christmas rail disruption"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Mr Speaker, as I made clear at the time the disruption at King\u2019s Cross and Paddington after Christmas was totally unacceptable. <\/p>\n

Passengers deserve a reliable rail service.<\/p>\n

They deserve clear information.<\/p>\n

And they deserve rapid help when things go wrong.<\/p>\n

I am sorry that – in this case – they did not get this.<\/p>\n

Before I give the House further details of what happened I would also like to pay tribute to the 11,000 engineers who were working on the track across the country over the holiday period.<\/p>\n

At 300 projects at some 2,000 worksites, often in difficult conditions.<\/p>\n

A record level of activity and investment.<\/p>\n

Part of a \u00a338 billion investment by this government in our railways.<\/p>\n

Working to create capacity, increase reliability and make our railways safer.<\/p>\n

The vast majority of these complex projects were completed on time.<\/p>\n

Today (5 January 2015), for instance, the vital new flyover opened at Reading.<\/p>\n

A complex scheme – on time and on budget.<\/p>\n

And London Bridge re-opened after key work for the Thameslink programme<\/a> – which will continue for some time. <\/p>\n

But when things do go wrong we expect the industry to have proper contingency plans.<\/p>\n

So let me turn to what happened this Christmas and what is being done to put things right.<\/p>\n

First, what happened at King\u2019s Cross.<\/p>\n

Network Rail had in place a vital scheme to replace and modernise some 7 sets of points and crossings and associated track and overhead wiring. <\/p>\n

It included the replacement of over 1 kilometre of track and 12,000 tonnes of ballast, and involved 14 dedicated engineering trains.<\/p>\n

This work needed to be done and it was planned for Christmas to limit the impact.<\/p>\n

It had been planned to reopen 2 lines on 27 December (2014) to operate a limited service into and out of King\u2019s Cross. <\/p>\n

Some elements of the work took longer than expected. <\/p>\n

The decision was taken to run an alternative service terminating at Finsbury Park. <\/p>\n

As a result many passengers\u2019 journeys were seriously delayed and disrupted. <\/p>\n

The planned modified services were able to restart on Sunday 28 December. <\/p>\n

Second, what happened at Paddington. <\/p>\n

Work on signalling was intended to allow lines to reopen in the morning.<\/p>\n

Safety testing meant that trains were only able to operate as far as Ealing Broadway until mid-afternoon. <\/p>\n

Neither of these situations should have occurred.<\/p>\n

It is inevitable that major investment in the railway will from time to time mean some disruption. <\/p>\n

But all of us who use the railways need Network Rail\u2019s ability to complete vital engineering works like these on time.<\/p>\n

As most of its other schemes were.<\/p>\n

Now let me turn to the response.<\/p>\n

I worked closely with Network Rail on the day and afterwards.<\/p>\n

I have left Network Rail in no doubt about the importance of getting this right. <\/p>\n

Mark Carne has ordered urgent review of what went wrong and to provide a report by the end of this week. <\/p>\n

It will be published. <\/p>\n

One of the questions that needs to be answered is about the timing of its major works programmes. <\/p>\n

The industry\u2019s conventional wisdom is that it is generally better to carry out major disruptive works over holiday periods, when passenger numbers are lighter than usual.<\/p>\n

In parallel, the Office of Rail Regulation<\/a> (ORR<\/abbr>) is conducting its own investigation.<\/p>\n

This will determine whether any regulatory enforcement action is required, and to ensure that lessons are learnt. <\/p>\n

The ORR<\/abbr> will be co-ordinating its work with Network Rail to ensure there is a common understanding of the facts. <\/p>\n

It will also be working closely with Passenger Focus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I and my officials were briefed on the key elements of Network Rail\u2019s engineering programme and the associated planned changes to services.<\/p>\n

We were not however involved in planning for the operational aspects of the works programme or contingency planning. <\/p>\n

That is as it should be. <\/p>\n

Network Rail is an operationally-independent body and it needs to be able to get on with its job without political interference. <\/p>\n

But if it gets things wrong it will then be rightly held accountable.<\/p>\n

We have made it clear to the company that we expect it to deliver the outcomes for which it has been funded over the current control period.<\/p>\n

Including the largest programme of investment since the Victorian era.<\/p>\n

And a reliable daily service.<\/p>\n

When services do not run as planned, passengers are entitled to be reimbursed if they are significantly delayed.<\/p>\n

Train operators have compensation schemes in place. <\/p>\n

In new franchises we are improving compensation – compared to ones let by the last government.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, things should have been done better.<\/p>\n

I have set out our understanding of the events at King\u2019s Cross and Paddington after Christmas.<\/p>\n

This level of disruption is wholly unacceptable.<\/p>\n

And I am confident Network Rail will learn the necessary lessons to minimise the chances of this happening again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actions to be taken in response to rail disruption during Christmas 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52169\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}