SIGNAL FAILURES
Great barrier grief
NEWLY retired Network Rail chief Andrew Haines has shed more light on the rail industry’s famous inefficiency, but the government appears in no hurry to act.
Interviewed by Railnews, he said: “Why does Network Rail ‘gold plate’ assets? Because that’s what we are told to do, more or less.” When the Levenmouth railway was rebuilt for passenger trains to Edinburgh to start last year, the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) demanded traditional telephones at trackside signals for drivers to call signallers if something’s amiss – although drivers have used “cab secure radio” instead for decades. Haines reckons the phones will never be used.