THE POST-COVID railway must satisfy the three ‘S’s of safe, simple and sustainable, Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines told the Railway Industry Association’s Innovation Conference on 29 April.
Mr Haines reiterated that safety cannot be taken for granted and highlighted recent incidents, including the derailment of a ScotRail HST at Stonehaven last August.
The Network Rail boss then highlighted the importance of a simple system. ‘People don’t want ticketing that’s complicated, they want a timetable that’s predictable, they want reliability’ he said. He added that he was a ‘huge supporter’ of proposals in the Rail Review by Keith Williams, with publication of a White Paper taking forward outputs of the review expected soon after Modern Railways went to press. Mr Haines criticised the inherent fragmentation in the current structure, which he said stifles innovation.
