Network Rail must drop the arrogance

Network Rail’s arrogant stance reflects the personalities of those in its boardrooms. However, John Nelson argues that they must read the signs and accept that a move towards a more customer focussed railway is inevitable.

In my forecast of industry events for 2008, I wrote that this would be the year when Network Rail became the main focus of attention. Enough has happened in the first quarter of the year to underpin my assertion that Network Rail’s charmed life is coming to an end.

Since Christmas the media have been chock full of bad news stories critical of its performance. Practically all of these have picked up on the various engineering work debacles taking place on and around public holidays. The...

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