Network Rail ordered to cut engineering disruption by more than a third

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said disruption must be cut by 17 per cent within three years and by 37 per cent within five years.

Engineering overruns at the new year caused travel chaos and led to Network Rail being fined a record £14 million.

Rail engineering workers work on the track earlier this year. Network Rail must cut disruption caused by such work over five years

One of the overruns was on the West Coast Main Line, which runs between London and Scotland, where continuing engineering work has led to service disruptions on most weekends this summer.

The regulator said today that Network Rail was also missing its performance targets on the other main London to Scotland route - the East Coast Main Line.

ORR chief executive Bill Emery said today: 'The regular closure of parts of the network for engineering work causes substantial disruption and inconvenience to many passengers and freight customers, as well as deterring others from using the network altogether.

'For rail to make its full contribution to our economy, it is important that this disruption is reduced significantly. We have been taking steps to ensure this happens.'

Mr Emery said Network Rail had to carry out a full schedule of maintenance while also increasing network capacity.

He added: 'Work by NR and train operators has shown that it should be possible both to achieve increased efficiency and to reduce disruption to train services by adopting best practice and exploiting technological advances.

'We expect the railway to be kept open for business for as much time as is possible.'

Facts and figures

Fares increased by an average 6.8 per cent in 2007/2008
Season ticket journeys increase by 10.7 per cent between 2006/07 and 2007/08, with London and south east England train companies seeing an 8.3 per cent rise in passenger journeys.
The number of track faults and speed restrictions in south east England rose by 83 per cent.
A total of 90.1 per cent of trains ran on time in the period April-June 2008 - a 1.9 per cent improvement on the same period last year.