Network Rail: 'Four years of misery'

NETWORK Rail today attacked the record of its predecessor Railtrack and said it could be four years before the performance of Britain's railways is turned round.

Reporting a pre-tax loss of £233m for the six months to the end of September, the not-for-profit company said: 'Our inheritance was a poor one, with low train punctuality, a degraded infrastructure and an explosion in costs.'

Network Rail is heading for a £500m loss for this year as a whole as it indicated that second-half performance was unlikely to be an improvement on the first six months. Turnover was barely changed at £1.5bn.

The company said its finances were unlikely to recover until a new interim financial arrangement with rail regulator Tom Winsor comes in next April.

Meanwhile there could be some tough medicine. In mid-December, Winsor will outline how much money Network Rail is likely to get in future. A draft report last month proposed a five-year spending plan of £22.7bn.

Network Rail is taking engineering work in-house after a series of dangerous failures by maintenance contractors. It said today the decision, which affects 8,000 staff, would help cut its losses.