More Delays Expected With Train Service
Angry train passengers have reacted with fury after being stranded at train stations for hours, a on-going problem across the country.
Mark Carne, chief executive, has made the following statement:”While we have completed a huge amount of work across the country which will improve millions of journeys, the last few days for many passengers have been miserable and again I apologise for the disruption this caused. The track work outside King’s Cross has now been completed and we now move our focus to completing the other important projects over the New Year without any further unplanned disruption to passengers.
“Following the problems experienced at King’s Cross and Paddington over Christmas, I have instructed Dr Francis Paonessa, who is the Network Rail infrastructure projects director, to provide a report into the sequence of events and associated decision making that led to the problems experienced and to advise any immediate steps that we need to take to increase the robustness of our works delivery capability. I expect the report by the end of next week and I intend to publish the findings.
“The events over the Christmas period highlighted the unacceptable impact on the travelling public when plans go wrong. I therefore propose that there should also be a broader, industry-wide review, into the timing of our major works programmes and the passenger contingency arrangements for such works. Our railway now carries more passengers than ever before in history. Passengers rely on the railway. We have an obligation to manage the essential safety maintenance and renewal activity that is required and we need to do this in a manner that minimises the overall impact on society at large. I will discuss this review with industry parties in the coming days before formalising the terms of reference for this review.”
Over the next couple of weeks, an army of over 11,000 engineers are working across 2,000 worksites on 300 projects in the biggest Christmas and New Year investment programme ever carried out on Britain’s rail network.
Engineering work completed includes, West Coast Main Line, East Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line, Thameslink, Anglia, and Wales.
