Network Rail Limited is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain.[4] Network Rail is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, which reinvests its income in the railways.[5]
Network Rail's main customers are the train operating companies (TOCs), responsible for passenger transport, and freight operating companies (FOCs), who provide train services on the infrastructure that the company owns and maintains. Since 1 September 2014, Network Rail has been classified as a "public sector body".[6][7]
To cope with rapidly increasing passenger numbers, (as of 2021) Network Rail has been undertaking a £38billion programme of upgrades to the network, including Crossrail, electrification of lines and upgrading Thameslink.
In May 2021, the UK government announced its intent to merge Network Rail's responsibilities with other railway operations into a new public body called Great British Railways.[8]
History
Background
Britain's railway system was built by private companies, but it was nationalised by the Transport Act 1947 and run by British Railways until re-privatisation which was begun in 1994 and completed in 1997.[9][10] As a part of the privatisation process, the railway infrastructure, passenger and freight services were separated into separate organisations. Between 1994 and 2002, the infrastructure was owned and operated by Railtrack, a privately owned company.[11][12]
Funding
Network Rail is a not-for-profit organisation. The majority of funding comes from a mix of direct grants and borrowing from the UK and Scottish Governments, payments from train and freight operators and previously a small amount of income from commercial property estate.[3] In February 2019 Network Rail sold its commercial property business consisting of 5,200 properties, mainly railway arches, to a consortium of Telereal Trillium and Blackstone Property Partners for £1.46bn.[82]
Network Rail works in five-year funding cycles called "Control Periods" (CP for short). The government specifies what is needed from Network Rail and sets out how much the government can afford to contribute. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) then sets the level of fixed income that Network Rail is allowed to charge and assesses the amount of money needed by Network Rail to run efficiently. The last Control Period ran from 2014 to 2019; 1 April 2019 was the start of Control Period 6.[3]
In 2019, government funding for train operating companies amounted to £4.1 billion, paying access charges to use the rail network, £2.1 billion and freight £58 million. In 2019, it spent £3.1 billion on renewals (restoring existing infrastructure back to how it was when new) and £3.2 billion on enhancements, with the rest spent on maintenance and other costs.
Assets
Infrastructure
Network Rail covers 20000 mi of track, and 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts.[83] They claim to run the world's largest third rail network.[84]
In February 2004, an operations centre at Waterloo station in London was opened, which was operated jointly by Network Rail and South West Trains. This was the first full collaboration of its kind since privatisation, and it is regarded as a model for other areas of the network, with a further six integrated Network Rail + TOC Control Centres having opened since then, at Blackfriars, Croydon (Leading Control for Thameslink), Swindon, Birmingham New Street, Glasgow and, most recently, Liverpool Street and South Wales based in Cardiff Canton.
Track renewal, the ongoing modernisation of the railway network by replacing track and signalling, continues to be carried out by private engineering firms under contract. The biggest renewals projects include the multibillion-pound upgrade of the London – Glasgow West Coast Main Line, which was completed in 2008, the
Development
Current investment programme
From 1997 to 2014 (inclusive), passenger numbers have more than doubled, following little growth in the previous decades. To cope with the increasing passenger numbers, Network Rail is currently undertaking a £38billion programme of upgrades to the network, including Crossrail, electrification of lines, in-cab signalling, new inter-city trains, upgrading Thameslink, and a new high-speed line.
The GRIP process
For investment projects, as opposed to routine maintenance, Network Rail has developed an eight-stage process designed to minimise and mitigate risks. This is known as the Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP), previously known as “Guide to Rail Investment Projects”.[96] The stages are as follows:
Each stage delivers an agreed set of outputs to defined quality criteria.[96]
Governance structure and accountability
Formal governance structure
The company is accountable to a body of members through its corporate constitution,[106] to its commercial train operator customers through its contracts with them (the contracts are subject to regulatory oversight), and to the public interest through the statutory powers of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).[107]
Since Network Rail does not have shareholders, its members hold the board of directors to account for their management of the business. From 1 July 2015 all the members were removed leaving the special member, the Secretary of State for Transport, as the sole member of Network Rail.[108]
Previously at any one time there were around 100 members in total, drawn from a wide range of industry partners and members of the public. There were two general categories of membership, industry members comprising any organisation holding a licence to operate on the railway or preferred bidder for a railway franchise, and public members who were drawn from the wider stakeholder community.
Safety
While generally good, the safety record of the company was marred in February 2007 when a Virgin express derailed at Grayrigg in Cumbria. Network Rail admitted responsibility for the incident. The RAIB investigation concluded in 2009 that a faulty set of points had caused the derailment.[114] In 2012 the Office of Rail Regulation announced that Network Rail was to be prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for "failure to provide and implement suitable and sufficient standards, procedures, guidance, training, tools and resources for the inspection and maintenance of fixed stretcher bar points". Network Rail pleaded guilty and were fined £4.1million including legal costs.[115][116]
In December 2005, two young girls were killed by a train as they were crossing the railway line via a pedestrian level crossing at Elsenham in Essex. Network Rail was prosecuted for breaching health and safety law and fined £1million in March 2012. The court heard that risk assessments carried out by Network Rail staff in 2002 had identified potential dangers with the crossing and recommended the installation of gates that would lock automatically as trains approached, but this was not acted upon.
Private versus public-sector status
In 2001, the Labour government denied that it had nationalised the rail network in order to prevent Railtrack's shareholders claiming, via the European Court of Human Rights, the four-year average price of Railtrack, about £10 per share. Instead, Railtrack's shareholders were given only £2.60.[121] The Times reported that Gordon Brown's aide, Shriti Vadera e-mailed Stephen Byers in July 2001 asking: "Can we engineer the solution through insolvency ... and therefore avoid compensation under the Human Rights Act?"[122]
Railtrack plc was placed into railway administration under the Railways Act 1993 on 7 October 2001, following an application to the High Court by the then Transport Secretary, Stephen Byers.[123] It was reported in November 2001 that a further £3.5 billion might be needed to keep the national railway network running, a sum disputed by Ernst & Young, the administrators.[124]
Photography competition
Network Rail organises the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition. Shortlisted photos are displayed at London Waterloo and other major stations.[132]
See also
- Campaign to Bring Back British Rail
- Northern Ireland Railways
- Financing of the rail industry in Great Britain
- Network Rail Certification Body
External links
References
- Our legal and financial governance structure Network Rail^
- Contact us Network Rail, retrieved 8 December 2019^
- Network Rail Limited's Annual report and Accounts 2024 Network Rail, 25 July 2024, retrieved 4 October 2024