Sheffield-Rotherham Tram-Trains inquiry
Closed
What the inquiry looked at
“A project to provide the UK’s first transport network that uses both street trams and the national rail network has more than quadrupled in price to £75.1million, according to a National Audit Office investigation. The Sheffield-Rotherham tram-train scheme was a pilot to test whether public transport that worked on tramlines and national rail lines was possible. Ideally, similar schemes could roll out to other cities. In May 2012 Department for Transport (DfT) authorised £15million to make modifications to the national rail network to accommodate the new scheme. However by November 2014 the cost had increased to £44.9 million, and in June 2016 Network Rail reported that forecast costs had risen by a further £25 million. The then-Permanent Secretary at DfT recommended the project be stopped but his recommendation was not accepted by the Minister who asked Network Rail to meet the shortfall. DfT and Network Rail expect the project to cost 401% of its original budget. The NAO report found that whilst DfT have learned lessons from the pilot, it is too early to tell whether it will lead to wider strategic benefits. The Public Accounts Committee will ask officials from DfT and Network Rail why the project went so far over budget, what was being done to ensure appropriate oversight of additional spending, and what long-term strategic lessons have been learned.”
The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.
What it found
The Sheffield to Rotherham tram-train scheme will see vehicles run across the local tramway and the national rail network for the first time in the UK. In May 2012, the Department for Transport (the Department) approved a pilot project to test the costs and operational issues of this new technology, and consider the potential to roll-out similar schemes across other cities in the UK. However, Network Rail’s works to modify the national rail network have encountered unacceptable cost increases and delays. It seriously underestimated the scale and complexity of the works, and failed to factor in the risks involved in delivering new technology. These are the same failings that we saw in the Department’s handling of the Great Western Railway modernisation programme. The Department failed to scrutinise or challenge Network Rail’s plans at the outset and then did not challenge hard enough as Network Rail’s costs rose from an initial budget of £15 million to £75.1 million. Neither the Department nor Network Rail have properly quantified the benefits expected from the project, so decisions to go ahead and continue were made without knowing if it provides taxpayers with value for money. Whilst Network Rail now has a revised plan to complete the works, albeit two-and-half years behind schedule, we are concerned that the project will not achieve the wider benefits that were originally intended. Network Rail and the Department have not yet done enough to learn the lessons from the pilot project, including whether the technology is useable elsewhere and calculating the likely costs of developing new tram-train schemes. There are wider lessons from this project for how the Department and Network Rail plan wider projects.
What the government said
No government response is linked to this report.
How the inquiry ran
Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 19 October 2017 to 15 December 2017.
- Oral evidence 30 Oct 2017
- Report 15 Dec 2017
What it recommended
The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 9th Report - Sheffield to Rotherham tram-trains ↗ on parliament.uk.
Evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1
- 30 Oct 2017No witnesses recordedparliament.uk ↗