09.11.16
NAO criticises DfT and NR failure to manage GWML electrification
The modernisation of the Great Western railway will need to be reassessed after recent setbacks to ensure that it still offers value for money, a National Audit Office (NAO) report has stated today, after the DfT revealed four deferrals to the project yesterday.
The cost of improving the route, which connects London with west and south-west England and south Wales, has increased by £2.1bn since 2013 and up to three-year delays to the electrification of the route will cost the DfT a further £330m.
The modernisation of the route, due to involve infrastructure works, new Intercity Express trains and service changes, aims to improve what is already one of the most overcrowded lines in England and Wales and is seen as necessary in order to accommodate forecast further passenger growth of 81% by 2018-19.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: “The modernisation of the route has potential to deliver significant benefits for passengers but this is a case study in how not to manage a major programme.
“The department's failure to plan and manage all the projects which now make up the Great Western Route Modernisation industry programme in a sufficiently joined-up way, combined with weaknesses in Network Rail's management of the infrastructure programme, has led to additional costs for the taxpayer.”
The NAO criticised the DfT for not bringing together a business case outlining all elements of the programme until March 2015, more than two years after it initially ordered new trains. This led to Network Rail re-planning the infrastructure programme when it became clear that the initial schedule could not be met.
The report has also blamed Network Rail for its “unrealistic” cost estimate of the project in 2014, which overestimated the impact of new technology, and its failures in planning and delivering the infrastructure programme – such as a minimum feasible schedule for the work and sufficiently detailed site surveys. Electrification between Maidenhead and Cardiff is now expected to cost £1.2bn more than the 2014 cost estimate.
DfT now intends to vary its order of Intercity Express trains so that they can operate under both diesel and electric power. However, the NAO has cautioned that the budget and schedule for electrification may still be over-optimistic, as the DfT will receive less money from the Great Western franchise prior to 2019 while the operator bears the costs of the delays.
“It is encouraging that since 2015 the department and Network Rail have a better grip and put in place structures to manage the programme in an integrated way,” Morse said. “However, significant challenges to the timetable still remain and there is more to do to achieve value for money.”
Due to budget constraints and delays, it is now envisaged that Great Western passengers in the north and west of England will have to wait for up to two years to start seeing benefits. Some stretches of the route will also not be electrified until the next rail investment period, which runs from April 2019 to March 2024.
Mick Whelan, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, said: “The decision to defer the electrification of the line between Oxford and Didcot Parkway; of Filton Bank (Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads); west of Thingley Junction (Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads); and the Thames Valley branches (Henley & Windsor) is another blow to Britain’s railway industry and another example of the DfT’s incompetence.”
(Image: FGW GWR class 43 c. Nick Rice, Flickr)
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