Network Rail : Restructuring Round Up

18 Jun 2004

Colin Wheeler Reports: Eighteen areas for a better railway

Network Rail’s target structure, still in draft form in February, went live on Monday May 24th. “Welcome to the new Network Rail” is Chief Executive John Armitt’s rallying cry, to his troops.

The not-for-profit company now includes 18 areas, which are to deliver performance and asset stewardship. He has commented that this is their opportunity to “deliver a better railway for Britain.”

Iain Coucher, Deputy Chief Executive, claims that taking maintenance in house has brought the company closer to the front line and gives clear accountability. He forecasts that, over time, the areas will adopt standard processes. Their focus is on asset stewardship, taken to mean inspection, maintenance and renewal of the infrastructure, and operations.

He stresses the areas’ role in running the day-to-day railway and how important it is for Area Maintenance Managers and Area General Managers to work together. He also acknowledges the importance of good engineering decision-making.

Over 15,000 new job descriptions have been written by hard working staff at the new Network Rail. To help motivate the teams of scribes, a system of fines has been introduced. If a new job description contains the word “region”, £1 has to be paid; “zone” costs £5 and the worst crime of all is to use the word “Railtrack” - incurring a £50 penalty! The Black Tower is not saying how much has been made from total fines paid. Jarvis Rail Training Transfer In a move, which surprised many, Jarvis Rail’s Training organisation of 75 staff including 45 registered trainers from 11 training centres has been transferred, together with managing director, to Network Rail. Derek Walker consequently has a new job as Head of Maintenance Training reporting to David Carrier, Head of Competence and Training Management. Eight Route Directors Network Rail (as scooped by RailStaff) has set up eight route directorates, giving every train company a single contact, the Route Director. Six have already been confirmed; they are Ron McAulay - Scotland; Robbie Burns - London North Western; John Curley - Western; Jon Wiseman - Anglia; David Pape -Wessex and Dave Ward - Kent. The Route Directors for London North Eastern and Sussex are expected to be announced soon. In the new organisation, Route Directors report to Robin Gisby, Director Operations and Customer Services. He describes their role as being in charge of day-to-day management of their routes and inspiring their teams. Five Territory Maintenance Directors Richard Fenny is the new Director Maintenance, to whom the Territory Maintenance Directors report. He describes their jobs as delivering the asset condition and reliability demanded by customers including passengers. They are Andrew Hinton - London North Eastern; Jim Sydall - London North Western; Greg Lunn - Western; Jim Bellingham - Scotland and David Wilks - South East. Welcome to the impossible area! South East apart, Territory Maintenance Directors and Route Directors cover the same geographical areas, although the number of areas varies between two (Scotland) and five London North Western. The others have three. The Anglia Route Director has two areas but the others in the south east only one each. Conversely David Wilks the south east Territory Maintenance Director has the two Anglia areas plus Kent, Sussex and Wessex, which are both Routes as well as maintenance areas. I wish him well. I was once appointed to a senior job with diverse responsibilities, only to find a note in the desk from my predecessor. It read “welcome to the impossible area, best of luck”! More responsibility for Network Rail? Peter Henderson, Projects and Engineering Director, says he expects the rail industry’s governmental revue to increase the responsibilities of Network Rail, and he may well be right. He speaks of the nature of the company having been changed by maintenance being brought in-house. He rightly asserts that engineering decisions made during the next two years will affect our railway for the next fifty years. I especially welcome his assertion that leadership means keeping in touch with front line people, understanding the issues and listening. But I hope he and his people intend to work just as closely with suppliers and contractors who also employ dedicated railway people. Listening or getting hungry? Simon Kirby, Director Major Projects and Investment, has alarmed staff by advocating, ‘a more commercially minded approach.’ Mr. Kirby says his new staff need to, ‘get hungry in an uncompromising approach to reducing costs.’ Previously there were seven regional investment teams. Now six national ones, each led by a programme director reporting to Simon, have replaced them. Kirby looks like he means business. Already managers have been equipped with electronic dashboards to help them monitor projects against their planned delivery. Workforce work out Up until May 24th Colin Clifton’s job title was Head of Workforce Safety. Mr. Clifton continues to report to John Abbott who is no longer responsible for quality issues. Colin’s new title is “Head of Workforce Safety-Policy.” He will work alone.  Ron Cameron, lately a Balfour Beatty Rail employee, is now Head of Workforce Safety - Maintenance, but reports to Richard Fenny, whilst Graham Jackson lately of Midland Region fills a similar role within the Projects organisation. As Director Safety and Compliance, Chris Leah continues to have John Abbott working for him but also Julian Lindefield, Director Health and Safety Support who amongst other things is responsible for ATWS, RIMINI, safety competence, safety cases and standards development.

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