Transport Times comment piece

Reforming Network Rail is key to delivering for passengers and taxpayers The railways have achieved many successes since privatisation. Journeys by rail have boomed 60 per cent, while customer satisfaction and punctuality have never been higher. They are integral to Britain’s future as a modern, green economy. The key to rail’s continued success is to ensure it becomes even more customer-focused and cost-efficient. Longer, smarter franchises would help do this by increasing the incentives to private sector investment and innovation in customer improvements. But we also need to see a new approach which brings track and train closer through a change in the relationship between Network Rail as infrastructure operators and train companies. Better alignment of incentives and organisations would improve cost efficiency and produce a railway more responsive to its customers’ needs. In recent years, we have seen how a joint approach at route level between Network Rail and train companies has driven up performance. Work is also already under way to build on common ground in the industry and enable train operators to take on greater responsibility for stations from Network Rail. We want to see these ideas go further. Train operators, with lower overheads and shorter chains of command than Network Rail, could save £250-500million on planned station spending over the current five-year investment period. They should have the chance to take on more ...