STORY UPDATED 14.53
A REPORT from Network Rail has revealed that the Christmas overrun at King's Cross on 27 December was caused a multiplying catalogue of errors which was worsened by 'mutual failings' of communication between Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway, which manages nearby Finsbury Park station.
This was used an emergency alternative but became overwhelmed with King's Cross passengers and had to be closed for a while during the day. Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: "A number of things went wrong. In addition it is clear that our project back-up plans and the train service plans should have done a much better job in protecting the travelling public from our engineering problems."
The report, which was prepared by NR's managing director of infrastructure projects Dr Francis Paonessa, describes how track replacement work at Holloway Junction, some 3km north of King's Cross station, was bedevilled by a number of factors. These included 'issues with the removal of the old ballast, scrap rails and sleepers, resulting from failed new equipment'.
As a result, the project had slipped six hours by the evening of Christmas Day.
The report continues: "The equipment failures were unexpected, due to the provision of new hardware that had been bought specifically to reduce the risk of breakdown. However this new hardware had not been tested in the railway environment before deployment, and was not reliable when put to use.
"Despite this, it was still believed that two of the four railway lines could be opened on the morning of Saturday 27 December for the reduced passenger service that had been agreed previously because there was still some contingency time in the plan. In any event the project had long passed the point of no return by this time – the full works were committed. Overnight, the physical project works then fell out of sync with the logistics plan for the engineering trains and crews. Progress suddenly fell to a crawl as train drivers reached maximum shift length limits and trains were left out of position to support the work."
Network Rail also concedes that its communications with the station operator at Finsbury Park were inadequate. The report explains: "There were mutual failings in the communications between Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway, who manage Finsbury Park station, around the implementation of the contingency plan. Failure to operate a revised platform usage pattern, as agreed the previous evening, was a significant contributor to the subsequent overcrowding, and was only corrected after three long distance trains had cycled through the station."
Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: "Being sorry is not enough. We have to learn from what happened."
He added: "In very complex projects sometimes simple things go wrong and these can snowball in short periods of time to become major issues. Our contingency plans should address these issues and protect passengers from our problems as far as possible. And our industry service recovery plans should minimise the impact of any disruption once it has occurred. On these occasions we simply did not do these things well enough."
He now faces questioning from the Commons Transport Committee in two days' time. The Office of Rail Regulation has also launched its own inquiry.
Meanwhile Govia Thameslink Railway said: "The overrun of engineering work at King’s Cross on Saturday 27 December was hugely frustrating for passengers, causing lengthy delays and overcrowding.
“Clearly Finsbury Park is no substitute for King’s Cross but it was our only option to avoid leaving many thousands of long distance passengers stranded. Our staff, supported by East Coast and the British Transport Police, worked incredibly hard to help people and ensure the safe operation of the station in some very difficult and trying circumstances.
“To ease the pressure on Finsbury Park, we turned many of our trains at Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City so people could transfer on to trains to Moorgate for connection with the Underground and we put on buses from Letchworth to Luton Airport Parkway for trains to and from St Pancras.
“Messages advised people not to travel and we helped people with specific needs such as mobility issues or airport connections with taxis wherever possible. There was also ticket acceptance with all other operators including local bus companies.
“We are working closely with all industry partners to examine what could have been done better and extend our apologies to all passengers who were personally affected.”
Apart from the ORR inquiry, the Rail Delivery Group has confirmed that a wider industry review of how possessions are timed and managed will now take place. The RDG said: "The biggest projects have historically been undertaken during key UK public holidays such as Christmas and Easter, largely because significantly fewer people travel by train at those times."
Reports earlier today claimed that transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin is in favour of a fundamental rethink. There are also growing calls for more trains to run during Christmas in any case.
The RDG-led review will be overseen by FirstGroup chief executive Tim O'Toole. He said: "Thousands of passengers did not get the service they deserved in the days following Christmas. So it’s right that the industry takes a good look at how it plans improvement works, and the best time to carry these out.”
The members of the review team will be Anton Valk, Christopher Garnett, Richard Morris and Graham Smith.
Meanwhile, RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: "At the core of this report is the clearest possible message that more than two decades of privatisation, fragmentation and under investment has left Britain's railways with a backlog of maintenance and renewals work that is simply impossible to shoehorn in during the limited window offered over the Christmas break. To try and pretend that we can squeeze a quart into a pint pot does no one any favours.
"The problems on Britain's railways are compounded by yet another slab of cuts being demanded from Network Rail by the government through their agents the Office of Rail Regulation. Pile on the ludicrous proliferation of casualised contractors and agencies looking to make a quick buck and it is no surprise to RMT that we ended up with the shambles played out over Christmas and ever since.
"The solution is to bring all works in house under a single command and control structure and to set realistic programmes and targets to tackle the backlog."