Hendy review: Martin Fleetwood
Partner in the Transport & Infrastructure Group at law firm Shoosmiths LLP and an Independent Board Member of UK Tram
This is a very astute view of Network Rail from someone who really knows how to make a transport system work.
It is also a good time for Network Rail to have someone in a senior leadership role who has already had to really think about how a transport system affects its passengers, rather than trying to work out who might be “the customer”.
However, Network Rail as a whole needs to take guidance from its new chairman and consider how it is positioning itself. A chairman can only do so many things, and both the board and the company will need to want to change.
There is a strong theme of the ‘power of 3’ in the interview. Three reports - Bowe, Hendy and Shaw - to focus on what has been done and how it is being done, and how it can be done better in the future.
There is also a strong influence of people who have achieved some ground breaking projects that needed to look a number of years into the future: Hendy with Transport for London, Mark Carne with Shell and BG; and Richard Brown with Eurostar and National Express. Also there are the three themes of the Shaw report to deal with: growth, passengers and devolution.
So I thought I should add my own ‘power of 3’ to fit within this theme:
- Targeted investment in infrastructure to meet long-term growth - having a long-term infrastructure plan and sticking with it. This includes installing enabling infrastructure when other work is being done, to look at getting short-term benefits before it comes part of a bigger structure. Think parts of the M25 in the 1970s and 80s.
- Opportunities for private sector investment. Pension and investment funds are looking at opportunities in infrastructure, and Network Rail should look to embrace these. Working with infrastructure funds to add new (or reinstate abandoned) infrastructure, to create new routes that fit with the longer-term demographics of the country. Potentially this could also help to spread out some of the strain on overused parts of the Network Rail system.
- Integration of the rail system with other modes of transport. We are already seeing this in projects such as Birmingham New Street, which will link train, tram, bus, taxi and bicycle with car and pedestrian. However, the Gainsborough Central footbridge is not a particularly high point. While Sir Peter cannot review every project, he can set the bar for managers to ask questions such as: “What is the passenger benefit from this work?”
With a new triumvirate at the helm of Network Rail, and the conclusions of the three reports to work through in 2016, this could be the start of a rejuvenation of Network Rail that will set some good foundations for the rail network into the next 50 years or so. For an island where transport and connectivity will become even more important, I do hope so!
Read the original interview: Hendy means business at Network Rail.
