02.01.15
Media knives out for Robin Gisby
Network Rail has been forced to clarify the position of Robin Gisby after inaccurate reporting about his job and bonus following the Christmas engineering over-runs.
Some media outlets incorrectly described him as the managing director of Network Rail itself, rather than of its network operations.
More significantly, some sought to tie his upcoming departure from the company to the disruption last week, even though his leaving was first announced back in September 2014, as reported by RTM.
In a press statement, Network Rail said: “It was announced in September that Robin would be leaving Network Rail early in the new year and that his successor would be [London Underground chief operating officer] Phil Hufton, who joins Network Rail on 5 January 2015. It is therefore inaccurate to suggest that Robin's departure is in any way connected with any of the events of the last few days.
“The timing of Robin's departure, 28 February 2015, means that he cannot be entitled to any bonus or incentive payment in 2015 either before or after his departure. On his departure he will therefore not be entitled to and will not receive any retention or incentive payment and no 'golden handcuffs'. All this was agreed in November 2014, long before the problems experienced at Christmas. There has been absolutely no change of position since then.”
While Gisby is often the 'face' of Network Rail during disruption, because of his role in terms of operations, the engineering over-runs themselves are not his responsibility. Significantly, chief executive Mark Carne has demanded a report into what what wrong from Dr Francis Paonessa, the infrastructure projects director formerly of Bombardier, who took over from Simon Kirby in June 2014.