Engineering news
The National Audit Office has heavily criticised Network Rail’s handling of the project to electrify the Great Western Railway line, after it was announced that the electrification of sections of it will be deferred because of rising costs.
Rail minister Paul Maynard has announced that four 25 kV 50 Hz electrification projects on the Great Western Line, which runs from Cardiff to London, will be deferred because the benefits to passengers can be achieved without “the costly and disruptive electrification works” originally planned.
The sections are: Didcot Parkway – Oxford; Bristol Parkway – Bristol Temple Meads; Bath Spa – Bristol Temple Meads, and the Twyford – Henley-on-Thames and Slough – Windsor & Eton Central branches.
According to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO), electrification between Maidenhead and Cardiff is now expected to cost £2.8 billion, an increase of £1.2 billion, 70%, against the estimated cost of the programme in 2014. There are delays to the electrification of the route of at least 18 to 36 months
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: “This is a case study in how not to manage a major programme. The department's failure to plan and manage all the projects which now make up the Great Western Route Modernisation programme in a sufficiently joined up way, combined with weaknesses in Network Rail's management of the infrastructure programme, has led to additional costs for the taxpayer.”
The report identifies failures in Network Rail’s approach to planning and delivering the infrastructure programme. It says it failed to manage the technical challenges and risks of new technology, specifically a new design for the electrification equipment and a new “factory train” for installing the equipment and its supporting steel structures.
Network Rail also did not work out a minimum feasible schedule for the work and failed to conduct sufficiently detailed surveys of the locations for the structures, which meant that some design work had to be repeated
The impact of delays to the electrification programme will cost the Department for Transport up to £330 million.
Network Rail said: “This is the biggest upgrade to the Great Western mainline since it was built 175 years ago. The NAO report looks back at some of the historical concerns which were addressed in our chairman's review in 2015. The project continues to be challenging and complex but we are making good progress this year and there have been great successes in recent months including upgrading and electrifying the 130-year-old Severn Tunnel, and completing the Hinksey flood alleviation scheme, near Oxford.”
Mark Langman, Network Rail’s Western route managing director, said: “The Great Western main line is undergoing a huge rail investment programme to enable new and upgraded trains with more seats and faster, greener journeys. The changes will deliver those benefits to the greatest number of passengers in the shortest possible time. The programme remains complex and challenging but good progress is being made.”