Disaster looming for railways as Network Rail faces cash crisis

Britain’s railways were on the brink of disaster, a leaked document reportedly revealed on Friday, with some of the largest spending cutbacks since the global financial crisis to be inflicted on the industry.

The document, passed to and reported by the Independent, was written by Network Rail official Ben Brooks, who spoke of “testing times” in the three years to 2019, which was the remaining time left in the government organisation’s so-called ‘Control Period 5’.

Network Rail has its long-term goals and spending priorities set out in agreement with government and the industry in multi-year control periods.

The letter suggested a lack of funding nationwide had forced Network Rail officials to pull the plug on a number of track upgrades, as they were required to save “millions” of pounds.

It also suggested there were serious concerns around track safety, and the fate of rail construction contractors.

“Because of significant overspends in some areas, including some enhancement schemes and the fact that the routes are more expensive to run than predicted, there is simply not enough money left in CP5 to continue as we have been,” the Independent quoted Brooks as saying.

“So the whole of Network Rail has to cut costs.”

Brooks reportedly said the last time the “track renewals industry” was facing such financial challenges was around eight years ago, and the supply chain suffered “massively”.

The track upgrade projects being affected by cost-cutting cancellations included the London North Western route out of Euston to Scotland via Cumbria, all work on the Wessex route from Waterloo south west of London, and all work planned in Wales for 2019, according to Brooks.

Renewal programmes were also being reduced on the south east route from London through Kent, Surrey and Sussex, and on the Great Western route to Bristol and Penzance from Paddington.

Brooks also suggested a total of £139m spending had been deferred on the London north eastern and East Midlands routes out of King’s Cross, including the renewal of ballast - vital work that ensures track remains aligned, intact and free of flooding.

Network Rail was itself borne out of cutback-fuelled safety breaches, taking over from the privately-held Railtrack in 2002.

Railtrack, formed as part of the Conservative railway privatisation policy of the 1990s, was strongly criticised for failing to maintain safety standards or upgrade railway infrastructure, and had its assets and responsibilities folded into the state-owned Network Rail after a string of accidents and ongoing maintenance failures.