Network Rail fined £2.4m

[Donny Dave]

Network Rail (NR) is to be fined £2.4m after engineering works in Portsmouth overran by more than six months.
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said NR had breached its network licence by failing to properly plan and execute the track and signal upgrade.

Plans were not put in place to cope with the overrun leading to problems for many passengers, the ORR concluded.

Services around Portsmouth are still disrupted, but a spokesman for NR said it was "very disappointed" at the fine.

Group infrastructure director Peter Henderson said: "The company took prompt action to mitigate the disruption to passengers and the majority of services were restored some time ago.

"We will continue to work with train operators to manage delivery of these major renewal and remodelling projects in an affordable way to achieve improvements for passengers and freight users, the vast majority of which are delivered on time and on budget."

Full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6921986.stm

 

[Pathfinder]

Take the bonuses that have just been paid to the directors,that should cover the fine ! :-P

 

[Nick W]

What happens to the fine? Does it go straight back to network rail or does it innevitably leed to more fare rises.

 

[Tom]

How would this one lead to fare rises? IIRC the track access charges are regulated and any severe hike would be prevented by the DfT.

It's SWT who set the fares, too!