R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

Scotland
Average delay per
train movement in
Scotland is 57
seconds compared
to the GB average of
79 seconds
110
9.3 continued
Day-to-day operation
We provide over 2,000 train paths per day in Scotland which
enable our customers to operate over 38,000,000 train
miles per year. Performance is carefully monitored to ensure
that the already high performance levels in Scotland are
maintained and,where possible, raised.
During the past year, in co-operation with the train
operators, we have maintained the highest standards of
punctuality in Great Britain with an average delay per train
movement in Scotland of 57 seconds compared to the GB
average of 79 seconds.This is despite the extreme weather
conditions of the last few months of 1998 and early 1999.
These have, however, resulted in some significant delays
which are unacceptable to the railway industry and its
customers. We are currently reassessing our processes and
working on schemes to ensure that disruption caused by
such extreme weather is minimised and our enviable
punctuality record is maintained and enhanced.
Maintenance of the operational railway. This is the
key to delivering a safe and reliable railway.The operational
railway in Scotland is maintained by First Engineering who
hold the five geographically based contracts to undertake
this work.First Engineering and Railtrack work very closely
together and these contracts have been recently relet
including an innovative partnership approach which is being
pioneered in Scotland with a view to possible extension
elsewhere.These contracts provide fundamental changes in
working practices to achieve further efficiency improvements
to reduce the amount of time that contractors need access
to the railway. Instead of teams built around a single
engineering discipline, First Engineering is providing
multidisciplined rapid-response teams dispersed across the
Scottish network.These are supported by our investment in
electronic remote condition monitoring diagnostics.
Bridges and tunnels. In Scotland,the topography of the
country requires larger, more varied and more numerous
structures than are found elsewhere on our network.They
are inspected annually, and,as a result,a programme of
structure renewals and minor repairs is identified.This
ensures that over 5,000 bridges and tunnels in Scotland
continue to deliver the output necessary for the day-to-day
operation of the railway. Included in this are the Forth and
Tay Bridges across the east of Scotland estuaries.We are
currently in the second year of a four-year programme to
paint and upgrade the Forth Bridge at a cost of £40M,which
will not only maintain the structure, but also allow the
carrying capacity of the bridge to be increased,bringing
benefits to our freight customers.We will shortly be inviting
tenders for a programme of heavy maintenance of the 85
individual spans which make up the Tay Bridge.