Regulator denounces Railtrack 'dictatorship'

Tom Winsor: New Railtrack regime is "more positive"

Railtrack management regarded itself as a "dictator" and train operators as "supplicants", rail regulator Tom Winsor has told MPs.

In a strongly worded critique of the culture allowed to develop under former chief executive Gerald Corbett, Mr Winsor said it saw regulators as "a nuisance".

And he accused the company of failing to keep adequate records of the condition of its track and other assets.

Railtrack, for too long, believed it was a giant, which was a dictator to the industry

Tom Winsor

But, he said, since Mr Corbett's eventual resignation on 17 November, in the wake of the Hatfield crash, Railtrack's attitude had improved.

Mr Winsor's verdict on the beleaguered firm was delivered to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.

One MP, Labour's Brian Donohoe, told him train operating companies had complained of "intimidation" by Railtrack.

Mr Winsor said he had heard they were "dissatisfied" with Railtrack's behaviour both when it reacted to Hatfield and when it dealt with them as dependent customers.

"Railtrack, for too long, believed it was a giant, which was a dictator to the industry and the train operators must come to Railtrack as supplicants.

"In fact, Railtrack is a supplier of infrastructure services to the industry - that's its place in the food chain.

'Clear message'

"The customer is king. Railtrack's customer is the train operating companies and their customers are the passengers.

"It must become far more customer-focused and customer-orientated than it ever was before, and I believe that under the old regime it didn't understand that.

"When Railtrack gets this clear message, I believe its relationship with the industry will be far better."

He said there was evidence the company's boardroom culture was changing.

It was "perhaps for the first time" taking the customer-focused agenda sufficiently seriously.

New regime 'more positive'

Mr Winsor added: "The old regime under the former chief executive, I think, regarded regulation as a bit of a nuisance.

"The new regime, I think, will be more positive."

Information provided to his office by Railtrack under Mr Corbett about the condition of the tracks had been "deficient", Mr Winsor continued.

He suggested the company had failed to keep itself informed about the problem of gauge corner cracking in rails, blamed for the derailment at Hatfield.

Mr Winsor told the committee: "If they had had better knowledge of their assets, the network wouldn't be in the state it is today.

Assets register

"Railtrack are finding poor quality assets in many places in the network."

Yet, he said, Railtrack had shown a "disappointing" attitude towards compiling a register of its assets.

Mr Winsor also criticised Mr Corbett for suggesting soon after the Hatfield crash that industry restructuring was the solution to its problems.

The comments were "extremely unhelpful" because ensuring effective chains of command was more important.

Renationalisation or government acquisition of a minority shareholding was unlikely to be as successful as effective regulation of the existing system, Mr Winsor said.