Hendy review: David Simpson
Production & Safety Director, Caledonian Sleeper
The interview with Sir Peter Hendy considers a whole range of weighty issues such as structure, ownership and funding, as well as the opportunities for devolution to improve local decision-making - and stop wasting money.
Whatever the outcome of the various reviews taking place, and however long any changes may take to implement, there are still ways in which Network Rail can work more effectively in the short term to deliver to customers. And it was particularly pleasing to read that Sir Peter sees customers as those who pay to travel and move freight on the network, as opposed to a large pile of regulatory measures!
The recent severe weather has shown how well Network Rail can respond in adversity, demonstrating speed of delivery, flexibility and responsiveness. As an example, the closure of the West Coast Main Line at Lamington meant that Caledonian Sleeper had to find a way to run our ‘Highlander’ service without extending journey times to unattractive levels. The solution was to run from King’s Cross.
It took less than a week from idea to the first departure, with a superb response from many parts of NR as well as our other industry partners GB Railfreight and Alstom - all parties working together extremely effectively to deliver the common goal of a great result for our customers. Processes that normally take weeks, months or even years just happened, and there was ownership at all levels in NR for getting the right result.
We must capture this type of response and apply it to normal circumstances so that customer needs can be responded to with more urgency. The often glacial progress of minor enhancements and network changes is in sharp contrast to what has been achieved during Lamington, and previously with examples such as the temporary station at Workington North. The oft-quoted comment that processes which take six months actually take six hours spread over six months has been proved to be true time and time again!
The opportunity for the industry (not just NR, as this is about working together) is to pick some ‘quick wins’ that can be used to show what can be done to replicate ‘crisis’ behaviours (responsiveness, pace, and flexibility) as the norm, harnessing local knowledge to the common objective of making a real difference to customers.
It shouldn’t need an alliance to work together with the right behaviours to do the right things in the right way (at the right price) for our industry’s customers. And whatever the future holds for NR, at local level we need to make this happen. If we can achieve this, a celebratory visit to the brewery will be justified!
Read the original interview: Hendy means business at Network Rail.
