The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), chaired by Stephen Glaister,
has today published its recommendations for preventing a repeat
of the May 2018 rail timetable failure, alongside a draft Final
Order requiring that Network Rail improves its timetabling
process.
Reporting on Phase
1 of its independent Timetable Inquiry in the May
failure, published on 20 September, ORR found that the
difficulties endured by passengers were the result of poor
communication within the industry, a perception that no one was
in overall control of decision-making and a failure to put
passengers at the heart of decision-making.
In its Phase 2
final report, the ORR is today recommending that the
interests of passengers are put at the heart of key decisions for
major rail projects, and that the industry works together to
improve how information is provided to passengers. ORR is also
setting out how this can be achieved.
To strengthen decision-making, the ORR’s range of actions include
requiring Network Rail’s System Operator to publish a plan by 1
April 2019 explaining how it will lead a review of Part D of the
Network Code - which creates the slots for new services into the
timetable. This will include consideration of whether Part D
should explicitly set out go/no go decision points.
Other major recommendations include:
- Clearer scope for industry boards to oversee major network
change. This will ensure greater scrutiny of the
interdependencies involving new timetables, infrastructure,
rolling stock and franchises.
- New independent, system-wide advice and auditing to be
introduced as soon as possible for major network changes, to spot
and address problems before they affect passengers.
- Addressing ‘optimism bias’ by learning from the examples of
best practice in other sectors in delivering major projects on
time and to budget.
In addition, actions for the ORR itself include:
- Monitoring the Network Rail System Operator’s performance in
delivering commitments made in CP6 – the industry’s strategic
plan for 2019-2024.
- Continuing enhanced monitoring of the risks to future
timetables, while the industry strengthens its own capability in
response to these actions and recommendations.
In the longer term, the Williams Review will look into what more
fundamental changes are required.
The recommendations are in response to Phase 1 of the Inquiry.
Phase 1 looked into the causes of the 20 May timetable breakdown
and reported that the Department for Transport, Network Rail,
Govia Thameslink Railway, Northern and the ORR made mistakes,
which led to the collapse of services causing misery to
passengers.
It found gaps in accountability for managing systemic risks, as
well as failures to take sufficient action to deal with growing
problems or raise the alarm about the risk of disruption.
ORR and Inquiry Chairman, Professor Stephen Glaister
said:
"Passengers were let down by the rail industry on 20 May and the
weeks that followed. We found systemic failures that needed to be
resolved in order to reduce the possibility that passengers have
to endure these conditions again. Our recommendations will now
mean that in every project, impact on passengers will be a
central consideration – as it should always be.
"We are pleased with the improvements that have been made so far
and expect our recommendations, which can be implemented
immediately, to bring more benefits.
"More fundamental changes are needed in the longer term, which is
the subject of the Williams Review. The ORR will contribute to
that Review."
In addition to the Timetable Inquiry, on 27 July, ORR wrote to
Network Rail explaining that it was in breach of its network
licence and requiring it to immediately take four actions to
improve its ability to develop the timetable.
Network Rail has met these actions, with the result that the
timetable process has been improved and there is more capability
within Network Rail to manage the development of the timetable.
However, we expect greater improvement. Therefore, we are today
issuing Network Rail with a draft
Final Orderrequiring the company to take further steps to
improve the timetabling process. The four new actions include a
requirement that they set out, by 1 April 2019, how they will
embed changes made over the past six months and how they will
report on the ongoing delivery of capability improvements.
This order also formalises the requirement to lead a review of
Part D of the Network Code as set out in the Phase 2 inquiry
recommendations.
Notes to editors
- Links to documents: Independent Inquiry into the
timetable disruption in May 2018 and Prior
role review.
The Inquiry has received responses from a wide range of people
and organisations, reviewed over 2,000 documents and
interviewed dozens of senior executives in the rail industry.
- The ORR launched the Timetable Inquiry on
13 June 2018.
- Background on planned changes: GTR was planning to run 3,880
trains a day after the timetable change. In the event around 270
a day did not run at all and weekly delay minutes rose
from a little over 10,000 to over 30,000. Northern
failed to run 125 trains of a planned 2,510 services and its
delay minutes soared from under 15,000 to close to 50,000.
