Northern Lights
18 Jan 2005
Northern Rail launched on 13th December - it actually took over on the preceding Sunday - amidst muted fanfare but great excitement.
The new franchise, charged with improving rail service across the north, fields a formidable team. Rail hero Brian Burdsall heads the new company as Chairman with the ever alluring Heidi Mottram as Managing Director.
Northern Rail Ltd is a joint venture between Dutch railways and Serco Rail, called Serco-Nedrail. Ruud Haket joins from Nederlandse Spoorwegen as Engineering Director and Chris Kimberley is the Commercial Director. All are experienced railway people. Northern’s first move will be to consolidate the new company.
How will the new regime affect staff?
"We are making one company out of two and we will create one support office. We’ve selected York for our new HQ. The biggest issue is harmonising terms and conditions.
We have two companies that were both part of BR eight years ago, that now, in most areas, have terms and conditions that are completely different. We have to create one set of terms and conditions for each of the groups of staff. We’re opening discussions with the trades unions. It’s a long shopping list and you can’t do everything at once," says Burdsall.
Serco has a fearsome reputation - it runs Merseyrail, Manchester Metrolink and the DLR. Is this a sign that the government is turning to established practitioners of the black art of running railways and no longer being seduced by the tinsel-tone bids of the private sector?
"I genuinely don’t know. We were on a shortlist with First, quite what distinguished us from First I’ve no idea. I don’t know what was in their bid. Certainly there is some evidence that they are looking to bring new operators into the industry."
What fresh skills do you feel your bid brings?
"A combination of two things - it’s simplistic, I know, but the Dutch bring to the party very solid railway skills in engineering and time-tabling, the real skills of running a railway. We have a Dutch rolling stock engineer and I want to change some of the practices of how we maintain trains. Serco brings the softer skills of culture change, HR matters and that sort of thing."
Do you feel reassured by the passage of the latest railways bill?
"The jury’s still out, is where I’m coming from. We’ll see what happens with the Department when it replaces the SRA. It is unclear as to exactly how the Department will be structured. I think the big issue for the Northern franchise is how we relate to PTEs."
What’s your message to rail staff?
"Well, I think it would be the message we’ve been putting out at the roadshows. We want to be good employers. We aim to sort out the company and we want to be very visible. We intend to have a management structure that means everybody will know who their boss is. We’ll get visibility from that."
Serco specialises in running government contracts well, using tried and tested leadership skills, coupled with all the elan of the private sector. An enthusiastic Heidi Mottram billed the launch of the new company as, "A fantastic opportunity to get across to people that this is their network and to really grow railways in the north."
Staff remain concerned about the squeeze on finance.
"We are very committed to a base railway, but we want to take that further and we are very committed to working in partnership with the local authorities, the PTEs and with the government in this part of the world. It is a challenge but we’re up for it.
We want to draw together an agenda for rail in the north by next spring. We want to get together as many projects as we can and together we believe our combined force will really make a difference."
Heidi praised railway staff for riding with the change and being so co-operative. She refused to be drawn on the white rose-red rose implications of head quartering the new company in York. "We’re all northerners together. This is about bringing together an agenda for the north of England. And I think we can combine together to deliver something that really adds value for passengers."
Northern takes over responsibility for 472 stations and 1,600 miles of track and works with five PTEs. Northern’s franchise will run for up to 8 3/4 years.