Lessons from the U.K.

V. SRIDHAR

THE worst rail disaster in the United Kingdom in the last decade - near Paddington station in London on October 19, 1999 - drew attention to the controversial privatisation of British Rail. A train operated by the privately-owned Thames Trains passed a red signal soon after it left Paddington station and collided almost head-on into a train approaching on the same track. While the Thames train was sliced into two, the crowded train from the other direction derailed and was mangled. Thirty one people died and 500 were injured in the accident which is associated in the public perception with all that is wrong with privatisation.

The second part of the inquiry report on the Paddington disaster, officially called the Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry and headed by Lord Cullen, was released on June 19. The 300-page report indicted Railtrack, the private company which manages the railway infrastructure in the U.K., for its "lamentable failure" to respond to several warnings of problems on the route. Lord Cullen's report categorically said that individuals such as the train drivers of the ill-fated trains or signalmen were not responsible for the tragedy.

The newly-recruited 31-year-old driver of Thames Trains had only "hand-written notes" describing the train's route. Moreover, senior company officials admitted to "flaws" in driver-recruitment policies. Lord Cullen blamed Railtrack for having ignored for over five years safety proposals which would have improved safety on the approaches to the Paddington station. The inquiry revealed that Railtrack had ignored key recommendations of an earlier inquiry into a train collision in 1995 at Royal Oak, near Paddington. The inquiry had suggested a feasibility study into the misreading of signals on the track. "Overworked" safety inspectors "missed safety concerns" prior to the Paddington crash and the Chief Inspector of Railways, Vic Coleman, informed the inquiry panel that the staff "had to juggle many jobs". He conceded that the staff were unaware of the problems associated with the crucial signal which caused the accident. Cullen said that "persisting difficulty" in the sighting of the signals that formed part of the resignalling scheme between Paddington station and Ladbroke Grove contributed to the crash.

Cullen's report said that a "devastating critique" of Railtrack was made by Railtrack's zonal director with jurisdiction over the Paddington area. He admitted before the inquiry panel that "the culture of the place had gone seriously adrift over many years". Railtrack conceded that its team might not have been alert enough after at least eight trains had passed red signals since August 1993. Lord Cullen pointed out that there was "institutional paralysis" even when the problem became apparent to those operating the rail networks. Although Cullen does not link the Paddington tragedy to the privatisation of British Rail, public opinion in Britain has been moved by what is perceived as the growing incompatibility between shareholder profits and passenger safety. There is also a growing tendency to compare the experience of railway passengers in the U.K. with that of passengers in the publicly-owned railways in France. The perception is that private rail operators and other entities are "flogging" public assets acquired at greatly-undervalued prices during the tenures of Conservative Party Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

The anger against the private operators grew when the inquiry was informed that Thames Trains paid about 7.5 million as dividend to its shareholders but could not find 5.26 million for the life-saving train protection system.

The privatisation of British Rail, following the Railway Act of 1993, is regarded as the most radical and far-reaching programme aimed at the privatisation of railways anywhere in the world. The "unbundling" of its assets and operations led to the separation of the rail infrastructure from the operation of the network in what was described by a commentator as "far-reaching organisational fragmentation". As a result, the task of operating freight and passenger services was split among more than 30 companies. A separate company, Railtrack, owning track and signalling infrastructure, was established to perform the task of infrastructure provision and maintenance.

The break-up of British Rail was accompanied by the sale of the freight services, rolling stock and other services to private companies. Passenger services were also sold to "franchisees". In order to facilitate the new dispensation a liberalised market regime was put in place. While access to freight markets was liberalised, franchisees for passenger services were selected through a competitive bidding process. Freight and passenger franchisees pay Railtrack for the use of the infrastructure. Rolling stock and locomotives are owned by leasing companies which are now private monopolies. Railtrack contracts the infrastructure to other private companies. A regulatory framework was also established.

Railtrack's severance package of 1.4 million to its former chief executive, Gerald Corbett, who resigned soon after the Hatfield rail disaster in late 2000 in which four people died, was criticised as a reward for mismanagement. Corbett is also to draw an annual pension of 55,000. Mick Rix, a leader of the railway workers' union said: "This farewell package for Mr.Corbett would have been obscene at the best of times, but in the week of publication of Lord Cullen's report it is grotesque." Rix said that a small part of Corbett's "ill-gotten gains", if spent on the repositioning of Signal 109 which contributed to the Paddington tragedy, would have saved the lives of several passengers. "Decency," he said, "demands that Corbett return this pay-off to Railtrack immediately." After resigning from Railtrack, Corbett took up another corporate position.

Alan Macro, a passenger who survived the Paddington tragedy, said: "The company Corbett presided over was severely criticised by Lord Cullen. The idea that he resigns and gets this huge pay-off is disgraceful."