The Great Western Railway inquiry

We reported in November 2015 on the staggering and unacceptable increase in the estimated costs of the Great Western Main Line electrification programme which rose by £1.2 billion in the space of a year. The extent of the serious failings in the Department for Transport’s (the Department’s) and Network Rail’s management of the Great Western modernisation programme which led to these cost overruns and a delay to completion of up to three years are now clearer. Both the Department and Network Rail accept that there were significant failings in the design, planning and cost-estimating of the programme. The case for electrification and new trains were seen as two linked programmes, rather than being managed as a whole and the accountability arrangements put in place were overly complex and failed to provide the assurance the Department needed to be an effective client of Network Rail. The serious management failings evident in this programme raise concerns about the Department and Network Rail’s ability to manage similar projects in the future, such as the planned electrification schemes on Midland Main Line and TransPennine routes. The Department’s claim that many of the passenger benefits of electrification can be obtained without electrifying the whole route raises questions about whether full electrification is the most appropriate way to achieve benefits for passengers, and value for money for taxpayers. But whilst the Department is taking this optimistic view this cannot detract from the £330m additional costs that the delays to electrification will incur.