News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, Edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 46 - 14/07/2000
This is a special edition of Snippets focusing on Railtrack's AGM. The news item is a copy of the press release produced by Alix Stredwick, Campaigns Director of Railfuture.
RAIL COMPANIES
Railtrack PLC AGM - Questions asked and the answers given
Railfuture attended Railtrack's AGM on 13th July 2000 to ask questions on behalf of Railfuture's members who are Railtrack shareholders. (Railfuture questions are written in full at the end of this news release.)
There were also some interesting questions relating to the 'wrong kind of weather' as well as the Railfuture question relating to Railtrack directors getting huge bonuses despite the poor performance of the company.
In reply to Railfuture's question on the escalating cost of schemes such as the West Coast Main Line upgrade, Railtrack stated that: "Early estimates were not correct"; "We are a lot better at costing projects now than we used to be";"Moving block signalling, the original type of signalling proposed and now dropped, is fine in the textbooks but in real life there are problems."
They did not answer at the AGM our question on whether the costs of safety measures will mysteriously escalate over time, but at at a meeting with Railtrack management yesterday, Railfuture was told that TPWS (train protection and warning system) costs would definitely not increase.
Another Railfuture question was: "Why is it that Railtrack directors are getting bonuses this year, despite poor performance by the company? How exactly is Railtrack's performance measured?"
They said that although it's true that profits are down, other performance measures are up, e.g. the number of broken rails has reduced this year, SPADS (signals passed at danger) are down, and other improvements have been made. Railfuture spokesperson Alix Stredwick says: "From Railtrack's answer, it could be inferred that unless they fail on every single aspect of their work - an appalling scenario - they will still award their directors huge bonuses. To us, this is unacceptable. If anybody in Railtrack should get huge bonuses, it should be the people on the ground who have had to deal with a particularly bad year in the history of the company. Railfuture applauds Gerald Corbett's refusal to accept any bonus this year, but we are disappointed that he instructed all the directors to accept theirs."
To the Railfuture question "Is Railtrack still committed to providing 42 additional paths for phase 2 of the WCML upgrade, for slow passenger services and freight?" Railtrack confirmed its commitment to this at last year's AGM, but this year's annual report casts doubts.
They said: "Yes Railtrack is still committed to the 42 paths, it's just a question of how they are going to be implemented. The scheme was originated in 1997 and will not be completed until 2005; that is long enough for needs to change and therefore another consultation with interested parties is necessary." Railfuture says: "Does this mean that every promise Railtrack makes at the beginning of a project isn't really a promise?"
Final question from Railfuture suggested: "Railtrack often seems to use the excuse of the British weather for delays. April was too wet; June was too hot. Could it be said then, that we have the wrong kind of weather?"
Gerald Corbett, Chief Executive, replied, jokingly: "Yes, we do have the wrong kind of weather in this country" and went on to explain that excessive heat causes buckling of rails, and excessive rain causes problems with electric circuits. Railfuture says: "UK weather is hardly extreme! We hope that Railtrack can come up with some innovative solutions to these problems, proving to the travelling public that it is committed to reducing Railtrack-related delays."
Questions Asked by Railfuture
Partnership with local authorities
Railfuture welcomes the requirements for stations to be fully accessible to the disabled, and that it will take 20 years for all UK stations to be adjusted by Railtrack to ensure this. Railfuture appreciates that these and other requirements mean that the cost of new quality stations can be substantial. However, it seems to Railfuture that the costs of new stations, and the access charges relating to them, are off-putting to local authorities who may want to, in partnership with Railtrack, or a train operating company, open and run a new station or line. For instance, Leicestershire County Council have withdrawn their support for the Ivanhoe line because it would require too high a subsidy from the council, to meet the high access charges. Railfuture wants to know how many partnerships of this kind are being developed with local authorities over the UK? (answer: 35) What are Railtrack's plans for more schemes of this kind in the future?
Escalating costs of projects
Why is it that the projected cost of large projects seem to escalate so dramatically? The classic example is the West Coast Main Line Upgrade, which has doubled in cost. How does Railtrack propose to fund the shortfall? Is the same situation going to occur with the cost of implementing safety measures such as TPWS? Railfuture continues to want more government support for rail, but are we going to see a continuation of the merry-go-round where no part of the rail industry wants to cover the shortfall needed to carry through schemes which would go towards making our rail network fit for the 21st century?
Railtrack land
Railfuture would like to know on what timescale Railtrack are basing their judgements as to the potential future transport use of disused rail land in Railtrack's ownership. Rail Property Limited, the SRA's land ownership arm, have confirmed to us that they are using 20 years as the time during which they judge whether a site may have transport use. How long is Railtrack's timescale? (there was insufficient time given for us to ask this question).
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 46 - 14/07/2000
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