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Research and Reports

A database of documents and reports released by industry bodies. You can download the document by clicking on its title, and can filter reports by author or subject. If you have a report you would like to submit to the Rail Hub, please email [email protected].

 

  • Crossrail – a progress update

    09/07/2021
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    Crossrail could cost up to £218 million more than the funding available, reports the National Audit Office in its latest progress report on the mega-project. The NAO puts Crossrail’s forecast cost (not including new trains and depot) at £18.9 billion, compared with the 2010 budget of £14.8bn. That is also some £1.9bn higher than when the NAO reported in May 2019. It means the project would be 28% nominally more expensive than expected in 2010, as well as potentially three years late by the time it opens some time in 2022.

  • Completing Crossrail

    01/05/2019
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    The way that Crossrail has been delivered has “driven unnecessary cost” and damaged public value, according to the National Audit Office in its report into how the troubled project ran into difficulty, missed its original schedule, and required £2.8 billion of additional funds. The NAO says that until the Elizabeth Line opens it will be impossible to determine overall value for money for taxpayers, but urges the Department for Transport and Transport for London to support Crossrail’s executive team in getting the project finished “without unrealistic cost or time expectations”. Although the report is not intended to apportion blame, the NAO has been particularly critical of the unrealistic ‘can do’ view that existed within project management, that the programme could be completed to its original timetable.

  • Implementing the UK’s exit from the European Union

    19/07/2018
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    Just one of the Department for Transport’s 18 work streams to prepare for leaving the EU involves rail, covering “ongoing recognition of documentation of operators and drivers to support continuation of cross-border rail services.” However, although it has no direct correlation to a work stream, further work is to “Develop and deliver domestic interoperability and safety regime for Day One.” As of March 2018 the DfT reported to the Department for Exiting the European Union that 14 out of its 18 work streams were on track for delivery of the contingency solution by March 2019; the NAO says that one work stream was not reported on. By the end of March the DfT had spent £6.6m on the work (£3.5m from existing budgets and £3.1m from contingency funds - the latter less than planned). By March 2022 it is expected that the DfT and its arms-length bodies will have spent £180m.

  • Investigation into the Department for Transport’s decision to cancel three rail electrification projects

    29/03/2018
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    The National Audit Office says it “is too early to tell the extent to which the Department [for Transport] will be able to deliver the benefits of electrification” without completing three projects cancelled last year. Electrification from Kettering to Nottingham/Sheffield, Cardiff to Swansea, and the Windermere branch were all dropped following cost overruns and Network Rail’s constrained ability to borrow since reclassification as a public body.

  • The Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern rail franchise

    16/01/2018
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    The National Audit Office makes a number of recommendations for the Department for Transport. These include that it should “work more closely with Network Rail to understand the impact of high frequency of services on congested parts of the network on passenger disruption, and how to manage and recover from disruption more quickly”; should “strengthen its monitoring of train operators’ crew planning when they are near the end of their franchise” and should “gain assurance at the outset that the likelihood of unplanned disruption on passenger services is minimised”.

  • Update on the Thameslink Programme

    01/11/2017
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    Although Thameslink infrastructure costs increased in 2015 by 9.4% (£474m), the NAO reports that they are now stable and that overall, “we consider that the programme has a realistic prospect of delivering value for money.” At 2017 prices, infrastructure works are now expected to cost £5.5bn. Recommendations for future projects include to “put in place commercial arrangements that incentivise major programme contractors to provide clear visibility of emerging cost risks” and to “ensure that the governance arrangements encourage collaboration to the degree needed by the nature and complexity of the programme, and provide clarity over decision-making authority. These should be flexible to allow them to be adapted at different stages as the programme matures.”

  • Reform of the Rail Franchising Programme

    23/11/2015
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    The National Audit Office has found that the Department for Transport “is better placed to deliver value for money” on rail franchising “than it was in 2012, following the collapse of the InterCity West Coast Competition”. However, the NAO lists risks for the future that include problems with the infrastructure investment programme and “potentially stretched bidder and departmental resources” with South Western, InterCity West Coast, West Midlands and East Midlands all due to start new franchises in 2017. A further challenge for franchising surrounds decisions being made on the High Speed 2 construction timetable. The NAO also notes that recent franchise competitions received three bids - and that the DfT believes that any fewer than this may reduce value for money. Options include delaying competitions “until there is greater certainty about infrastructure plans” and issuing management contracts in the meantime. In order to maintain sufficient interest in franchises, the DfT is reportedly trying to encourage new entrants to the market as well as maintain the interest of companies already active.