Network Rail facing huge fines over late trains

NETWORK Rail faces multi-million pound fines from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) for not improving punctuality fast enough for cross-Border Virgin Trains and CrossCountry passengers on the west coast main line.

Heavy rain, track problems, signal failures and late-running engineering work left long-distance train operators’ punctuality 2.2 per cent below target between April and July at 88.9 per cent.

The ORR has threatened to fine Network Rail £1.5 million for every 0.1 per cent if falls below its 92 per cent target - the equivalent of more than £30m for that period.

It said despite improvement plans agreed with the firm three months ago, serious problems remained, and it has demanded a speedy explanation of what has gone wrong before deciding what action to take.

The ORR said: “We are increasingly concerned that overall Network Rail is failing to achieve its commitments. We acknowledge that severe weather had an impact on the east coast and west coast main lines but diverse conditions or events can be expected in any year and Network Rail must be able to ‘bank’ enough good performance in benign conditions to compensate.”

Robin Gisby, Network Rail’s managing director of network operations, said: “Over the last few years, the industry has driven up performance levels to amongst the best in Europe, with over 90 per cent of trains arriving on time.

“More passengers are arriving on time on more trains than ever before. At the same time, we recognise we are falling short on some very tough performance targets set by the ORR and are determined to make further improvements.”