PETER WOODMAN
It was "quite extraordinary" for rail bosses to get huge bonuses after passengers had been "humiliated and inconvenienced" by three major engineering overruns at the new year, a report by MPs said today.
The Network Rail (NR) overruns, including one on the busy West Coast Main Line, had "laid bare an entire catalogue of management failings for all to see", the House of Commons transport committee added.
NR's top three directors are to get annual bonuses in excess of £200,000 each, with chief executive Iain Coucher receiving £305,000.
The transport committee said that rewarding senior managers with "huge financial bonuses is a gesture which adds insult to injury for the long-suffering passengers who had to struggle with the consequences of the company's failings".
Thousands of passengers were delayed by the engineering overruns at Rugby on the West Coast line, at Liverpool Street station in London and at Glasgow Shields Junction.
Today's report said the management of the three projects indicated there were "serious deficiencies in terms of central control and internal oversight mechanisms within NR".
The MPs were also critical of NR chairman Sir Ian McAllister. The report said: "We fear that the lack of a sense of urgency manifested by the NR chairman over the new year period, as well as when he appeared before us, is symptomatic of widespread complacency within NR."
MPs said communication within NR and between it and the train companies was "seriously deficient", and that this had serious consequences for passengers.
The committee also said it was "deeply concerned that the rapid shift away from taxpayer contributions and towards passengers paying a significantly larger share of the cost of running the railways will be detrimental to passengers and future of the railways alike". Such a shift should be introduced over a "significantly longer" period of time than planned.
The committee's chairman, Labour's Louise Ellman, said: "The railways are increasingly popular and the (government's) 30-year strategy has the potential to provide a tremendous sense of purpose and direction. However, the (2007 rail) White Paper lacks vision and represents a missed opportunity."
She said that NR was "critical to the achievement of the objectives of the White Paper", yet the management of the new year engineering works had "provided evidence of flawed management of teams and of contractors, including the dubious practice of self-certification".
She added: "The chairman of Network Rail did not display any sense of urgency when he gave evidence to us. The bonuses paid out to senior management at NR added insult to injury for the long-suffering passengers who have had to struggle with the consequences of the company's failings."
LibDem transport spokesman Norman Baker said: "The government's abject failure to plan for a high-speed rail network has condemned passengers to years more misery and overcrowding."
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