Network Rail Sustainability Update 2014

2013/14 Sustainability update

Contents

Delivering a railway fit for the future 04

Chief executive and director’s statement 06

Environment

Natural resources 08

Environmental protection 12

Land 14

Energy and carbon 18

Weather resilience and climate change adaptation 22

Communities

Communities 24

Accessibility and inclusion 28

Passenger and public safety 32

Workplace

Employee health, safety and wellbeing 36

Employee engagement and development 40

Diversity and inclusion 44

Customers

Value 48

Performance, passenger satisfaction and communication 52

Ethics and transparency 56

Integration

Integrating sustainable development 60

Independent Assurance Statement 64

4

Case study

King’s Cross stationThe new King’s Cross Square in London opened in September 2013. This 75,000 sq ft public space is the final part of the redevelopment of King’s Cross station to be completed and follows the renovation of the original station building and its platforms and the construction of the spectacular new western concourse, which opened to passengers in March 2012. The demolition of the 1970s concourse and the creation of King’s Cross Square in its place means the Grade 1 listed station’s full historic façade can be seen in all its glory for the first time for 150 years.

“I have been travelling to and from my Derbyshire constituency for years and I remember when King’s Cross and St Pancras were not places you would hang around. Now it is a destination in its own right.

With more platforms, a redesigned concourse and improved facilities, work at this iconic station has transformed the experience of thousands of rail passengers travelling into London for the better.”

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin

“The transformation of King’s Cross is not only beautiful but it has also triggered all sorts of regeneration, with new jobs, huge numbers of homes being built and businesses relocating here. What has emerged is a fantastic open space which has led to the creation of a whole new vibrant district. It is the perfect example of a point I have always made, if you support good transport links the jobs and growth will follow.”

Mayor of London Boris Johnson

A better railway for a better Britain, with sustainability at the heart of everything we do

Delivering a railway fit for the future

5

Progress In May 2013 we published our first ever Sustainable development strategy. This Sustainability update explains our progress in delivering the priorities and objectives of that strategy, grouped into five sustainability themes:

• Environment: how we are reducing our environmental impact

• Communities: how we are improving the safety and accessibility of our network and contributing to the communities within which we operate

• Workplace: how we are making our business a safer, healthier and more inclusive place to work and engaging and developing our people

• Customers: how we are delivering value, improved performance and a safer network to our passengers and the public and taxpayer

• Integration: how we are working across our business and with our supply chain and industry partners to deliver our sustainable development objectives.

The demand for rail travel is high and numbers are increasing quickly. Every day four million people use our network and today we carry 50 per cent more passengers than ten years ago. We’ve enabled around 120,000 more trains to run a year than we did in 2009 and the amount of freight transported has increased by 13 per cent.

Our annual investment in the rail network has grown from around £3.5bn per year to around £5bn since 2009. Improvements to infrastructure, modernisation and smarter ways of working have delivered more frequent, more reliable, safer services and brighter and better stations. Projects delivered in 2013/14 are mentioned throughout this Sustainability update.

Rail travel is a cornerstone of economic growth.

Rail travel contributes to a greener economy.

Rail travel improves social and economic opportunities.

Sustained community support recognising the importance of rail.

Network Rail as a great place to work.

Why it mattersOur role is to improve, maintain and operate the rail infrastructure across Britain, in partnership with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. People and businesses rely on us.

We are seeking to deliver a safer, more reliable railway, with greater transparency, capacity and efficiency, that contributes towards a thriving, low-carbon economy with better connections between people and jobs. Sustainable development is at the heart of enabling us to achieve this.

TargetsWithin each section of this Sustainability update, we describe the sustainable development targets and our performance against them. In many cases these targets relate back to our business plan when we entered our regulatory Control Period 4 on 1 April 2009.

We also provide information on performance measured by other sustainability metrics that were collected in 2013/14.

Sustainable development objectives

What happens nextOur focus in 2014/15 will be on:

• Embedding core plans and processes to enable us to achieve our sustainable development objectives

• Engaging with our internal and external stakeholders to develop a shared understanding of priorities and a clear responsibility for delivering them

• Working to meet the targets and commitments within our Delivery Plan for Control Period 5 (2014 to 2019) and which are explained at betterrailway.co.uk.

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Our sustainable development vision is to deliver ‘a railway fit for the future’, and we aim to achieve a safer, more reliable and better value railway

We will do that by working more effectively and continuing to improve how we engage our industry partners, our supply chain and the people living in the communities close to where we operate.

The rail network is experiencing significant investment. Over the coming five years, we will spend £38 Bln enhancing, renewing and running the infrastructure. This level of investment reflects the growth in the demand for rail travel and the economic significance of the railway to this country.

We will deliver better stations and greater capacity for more trains. Alongside this, we are committed to becoming a more efficient business and will reduce costs by 20% from 2014 to 2019.

Sustainable Development is one of Network Rail’s ten strategic themes. Last year we published Network Rail’s first ever Sustainable Development Strategy.

To deliver this strategy, we are:

• Continuing to reduce safety risk to the public, our passengers and our workforce. For example we will reduce risk at level crossings by 25%. We are also committed to developing a positive safety culture throughout the organisation.

• Implementing an ambitious and collaborative 10-year strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of our people, supported by data and evidence-based decisions and interventions.

• Taking action to mitigate the impact of extreme weather on our infrastructure and addressing other issues which impact on rail industry performance and passenger satisfaction.

• Using resources responsibly and disposing of them carefully. This includes reducing the amount of energy and water we use and the carbon embedded in the materials we buy.

• Acting to prevent pollution to land, air and water.

• Investing in the communities in which we operate and in our people.

• Creating an organisational culture that embraces accessibility, diversity, inclusivity, transparency and a high standard of business ethics.

Chief executive and director’s statement

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This Sustainability Update summarises our progress in implementing our sustainable development strategy during the financial year 2013/14 and sets out how we are laying the foundations to perform even better in future years.

We thank you for your interest in our approach to sustainable development and we look forward to working together to create ‘a Better Railway for a Better Britain’.

Mark Carne, chief executive

Gareth Llewellyn, director safety and sustainable development

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Natural resources

We will use our natural resources in a responsible and sustainable manner, minimising the amount of material we use and reusing and recycling as much of our waste as possible

To design and build low embodied carbon infrastructure and buildings.

To implement the waste hierarchy to minimise waste.

To minimise the environmental, social and health impacts of the goods and services we procure through responsible sourcing.

To minimise potable water consumption through efficiency and substitution.

Objectives

Why it mattersManaging and operating the rail network is resource intensive. We can deliver enhanced value by procuring more sustainable materials and producing less waste. Most of the resources we use are finite and consequently volatile in price.

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Waste data 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Waste generated

(tonnes)

Waste diverted from landfill

(%)

Waste generated

(tonnes)


(%)

Waste generated

(tonnes)


(%)

Target waste diverted from

landfill (%)

Construction waste managed by contractors

786,536 86% 634,000 84% 1,847,710 81% 80%

Construction, track maintenance and renewals managed by our National Delivery Service

1,465,057 86% 1,524,812 86% 1,341,039 95% 97%

Waste from our stations 22,657 55% 13,885 65% 20,515 61% 60%

Waste from our offices and training centres

1,918 54% 1,438 63% 3,027 97% 60%

Waste from depots, signalling locations, operations and maintenance sites

20,887 41% 16,472 48% 19,400 52% 60%

Performance against targets

Other metricsWaste disposal Status of the timber forest products that we purchase:

sleepers, fencing and timber procured through builders merchants’ framework agreements

Waste sent to landfill


0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

2013/142012/132011/12

341,169 331,345432,704

1,955,886

Total 2,297,055

Mill

ion

tonn

es

1,821,625

Total 2,152,970

2,798,987

Total 3,231,691

2013/14

Credibly certified (i.e. FSC purchased with chain of custody)

Sourced verified (i.e. PEFC purchased with chain of custody or in the process if becoming credibly certified)

Sourced assessed (i.e. legal origin verified)

Limited knowledge of source

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Case study 1

Low carbon concrete sleepersWe’ve developed a low embodied carbon concrete sleeper. We replaced 25 per cent of conventional concrete mix with pulverised fuel ash (PFA). PFA is the ash left over from generating energy in coal-fired power stations and has a carbon footprint far lower than that of cement. Independent sustainability experts calculated that the carbon footprint of the sleepers has been reduced by more than 11 per cent by using PFA.

We will use over 800,000 of these sleepers a year, saving around 26,700 tonnes of CO2 each year. The new mix also protects the sleepers from risk of corrosion. They will last longer and are cheaper to produce than conventional concrete sleepers.

ProgressWater consumptionWater is a vital resource to our business and is used for cleaning, track and lineside treatment, sanitary and other purposes. In 2013/14 we consumed around 1.5 million m3 of water, costing us around £2.9m (down from around £3.2m in 2012/13). Our reduction in water consumption is due to infrastructure works such as the upgrade of signalling boxes.

Sustainable timberWe have a long standing commitment to procure legal and sustainable timber. In 2013/14 we developed a Responsible Timber Sourcing Policy to reinforce our requirements. There has been a drop in the proportion of credibly certified timber compared to previous years. This is partly due to widening our scope of reporting to incorporate timber data from our fencing and builders’ merchants; we previously only reported sleepers consumption.

Furthermore, following a recent third party audit, irregularities in categorising timber certification status have been identified. Consequently the data released in previous sustainability updates are incorrect. We are working actively with our procurement team and our supply chain to provide adequate training and ensure a robust assurance process is put in place.

Embodied carbon toolWe are committed to measuring and reducing embodied carbon in the materials we use. In 2013/14 we scoped an embodied carbon calculation pilot involving three major infrastructure projects. The pilot takes place between April and September 2014 and will inform how we identify opportunities to reduce embodied carbon and embed measurement and reduction across our project process.

Responsible sourcingOur Thameslink programme is implementing a responsible sourcing policy and supply chain partners such as Costain are using it to inform their sourcing of materials. The sustainability charter signed by Infrastructure Project’s commercial director’s forum (see Integration section) commits major supply chain partners to source materials to be sourced from recognised responsible sourcing schemes.

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• Rolling out a toolkit to enable measurement and reduction of embodied carbon on our infrastructure projects

• Minimising our waste production and improving our reuse and recycling rate

• Working with our supply chain to achieve greater assurance around the sustainability of materials and products used across our business, including timber.

Case study 2

Reducing use of resources through good designOur Thameslink programme facilitated workshops with design teams and contractors, to make better use of resources by addressing sustainability at design stage. Achievements include:

• During the design of our Bermondsey dive under infrastructure, contractor Skanska identified and implemented major opportunities to reduce costs, time, material use, and environmental impacts in the development of the GRIP 5 design. Benefits include a reduction in the number of piles required from approximately 1,600 to 1,000

• Siemens and Balfour Beatty Rail are reducing the use of concrete at REBs (housing units for signalling). The concrete base size has been reduced by incorporating the access steps into the REB unit thus removing the requirement for in-situ construction of a concrete step post installation. The resultant reduction in concrete use is approximately 46 tonnes

• Balfour Beatty Rail has redesigned gantries, so that they require less materials, less time to install and create less waste, as existing posts are reused.

Case study 3

End-of-life vehicle specificationThe end-of-life vehicle directive requires the safe and sustainable disposal of road vehicles when they reach the end of their lives. Rail-related vehicles are exempt. We are going beyond legal compliance by including end-of-life requirements in the contract specifications for the design, build and supply of a new stone-blower train. In defining the requirements we’ve worked closely with the supply chain to design out waste and identify an end-of-life disassembly plan that will maximise recovery of recyclable and reusable materials and safely capture and dispose of hazardous components.

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Environmental protection

We will protect land, air and water from pollution and other negative impacts

To avoid pollution and reduce the amount of potential hazardous substances we use.

To ensure we have the right processes to mitigate impacts that do occur.

To reduce important nuisance elements such as environmental noise.

Objectives

Why it mattersOur interaction with the natural environment is considerable. Protecting the environment is both a legal obligation and a sign of a responsible business. Preventing pollution and environmental damage will also make us more efficient.

Other metricsWe are improving processes for collecting information on all environmental incidents. In 2013/14 we identified:

• 29 notable spills (spills of between 200 and 999 litres)

• 102 minor reportable spills (spills of between 20 and 199 litres).

Performance against targetsA significant pollution incident is defined as a spill of more than 1,000 litres or contamination getting into a watercourse or a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Seven of the significant incidents in 2013/14 related to spillages of silt, which has a relatively low environmental impact but requires remediation. The other four significant incidents were due to spillages of fuels and oils.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

2013/142012/132011/122010/112009/10

Target number not to exceed

Num

ber o

f sig

nific

ant p

ollu

tion

inci

dent

s

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ProgressClose calls monitoring and reportingAll organisations have situations of near misses when a harmful incident almost occurs, but doesn’t. We call these close calls. We seek to investigate and understand why these happened and put measures in place to ensure that the situation is less likely to happen again.

Most close calls are to do with health and safety issues (see Employee safety and wellbeing section), but environmental issues account for around five to 10 per cent of them.

We’ve developed a system for logging and acting on close calls. We log around 2,000 close calls each month and a further 2,000 or so are submitted by contractors working on major infrastructure projects. They result from issues such as a near miss that could have resulted in pollution (e.g. spills of liquid or releases of dust). We are closing out around 25 per cent of all new calls within one month of them being logged.

To enable staff in the field to use the close call system easily, we have introduced an app. Almost half of all close call events are now reported through the app and the rest are reported through email and phone.

Memorandum of understanding with the Environment AgencyThe Environment Agency is a key regulator in England and Wales.

In 2013/14 we prepared a memorandum of understanding that sets out how will work together on issues such as flood defence and legislative compliance in a safe and efficient manner.

Monitoring and reportingWe have begun a project to improve the way we capture, assess and report on environmental incidents. We will complete this over the coming year to enable significant improvements in our number and management of such incidents.

Case study Anti-icing

Throughout the winter there is a risk that ballast being delivered to work sites will freeze in rail wagons and can’t be unloaded. To address this, and to continue to maintain the railway during the colder months, we

sometimes use an anti-icing fluid to release the ballast. Anti-icing products can pose a risk to the local environment, if not used properly.

We chose a de-icing product that it is effective but doesn’t pose an unacceptable risk to the environment; it is non-hazardous and biodegradable. To manage the risk of unrestricted use causing harm to the environment, we’ve developed

a procedure document that restricts the use of the anti-icer to times when freezing is forecast and to sites where it won’t pose an environmental threat.


• Reviewing processes around our management of environmental permits

• Working with the Rail Safety and Standards Board to develop an industry-wide approach to close-call reporting and investigation

• Investigating opportunities for memorandum of understandings with Natural Resources Wales and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

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Land

Case study 1 The Tree Council partnership We partner with The Tree Council so that we can collaborate with independent experts and find the right solutions for managing our lineside land and vegetation. This independent input is important to our lineside neighbours and other stakeholders.

The Tree Council is providing advice on estates management on a trial basis, with a view to extending this across the business. This has generated cost savings and enhanced stakeholder relationships. On our London North Eastern and East Midlands route the independent and expert advice of The Tree Council was well received by the community.

We will manage our land sustainably and engage with our neighbours to our mutual benefit

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To reduce operational risk associated with the contamination of land.

To enhance ecological value.

Objectives

Case study 2 Net gain in biodiversity

on the Thameslink programme

Thameslink is our first project to set a net gain target for biodiversity through a biodiversity policy. By doing so, we hope to set a precedent not just for rail projects but

for all construction projects.

To achieve a net gain we follow a mitigation hierarchy of avoidance of biodiversity loss, mitigation and then compensation

as last resort. We have undertaken on-site planting wherever possible and trained our staff in biodiversity protection and enhancement measures. We use Defra’s new metric for calculating

biodiversity loss and the associated level of compensation needed. We’ve been named by Defra as a UK demonstration project.

To achieve the net gain, we are working with Parsons Brinckerhoff, the London Wildlife Trust and Lambeth Council to plant trees on Streatham Common in South London. This site was carefully selected to generate many benefits for wildlife and the local communities. On

17 December 2013, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson joined us on Streatham Common to launch Defra’s national biodiversity offset and to

help us plant trees.

“The creation of new woodland on Streatham Common will provide a rich wildlife environment and improve the park for local residents and visitors. We welcome Thameslink’s commitment to sustainable development.”

Carlo Laurenzi OBE, Chief Executive of London Wildlife Trust

Why it mattersHow we manage our land estate of 400,000 hectares impacts on the people who use our network, the 5 million people who are our lineside neighbours and the one third of Britain’s population who live within 0.5km of a railway line. We must manage our lineside environment so that we enhance biodiversity and increase its economic and social value.

MetricsThe Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and its strategy Biodiversity 2020 recommends that at least 50 per cent of the Sites of Special Scientific Interest that we manage are in a favourable condition, and at least 95 per cent are in a favourable or recovering condition by 2020. We have achieved this.

We have developed site management statements at route level, in partnership with Natural England, for 162 of all 181 Sites of Special Scientific Interests that we manage in England.

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ProgressTrees and the railway Storm, rain and wind events resulted in approximately 1,500 incidents in 2013/14 where trees caused disruption to the network. This is a four fold increase on the previous year and indicates the severe impact of the adverse weather of winter 2013/14. All events were resolved with lines back up and running again as soon as possible.

We are putting further mitigating measures in place to manage our lineside land and the vegetation on it to reduce the frequency and risk of these kinds of events happening in the coming years. We will also be clearing up the railway to improve overall safety of our network. And we’re not doing this in isolation; we’re actively engaging with local community groups and other stakeholders to ensure we get the best solution for everyone.

Sustainable vegetation management strategyWith KDA Design and Peter Neal Consulting, we’ve developed a strategy that establishes a set of new principles and techniques to create a more productive, attractive and cost-effective lineside estate. This helps us to view the lineside estate as an asset with value, rather than cost liability and to look for opportunities to enhance its value to us, our lineside communities and to ecological habitats.

NEWP32 ProgrammeThe NEWP32 Programme is working with the Highways Agency and Natural England on nature improvements areas at Morecambe Bay and Humberhead Levels. We’re identifying opportunities to manage transport infrastructure to the benefit of the community and local biodiversity, for example by joining up flood alleviation schemes, restoring natural habitats and linking areas of high biodiversity value. We plan to widen the trial out to other parts of the network, undertake specific monitoring of species to see how they react and take the process nationwide.

Case study 3

Kent House embankment projectUrgent maintenance work was required to stabilise the embankment close to Kent House station in the London Borough of Bromley. The biodiversity of the area was assessed as being of low ecological value due to non-native trees and scrubland. We set ourselves a target to leave a legacy of improved ecological value. We planted wildflower meadow grasses along the top of the embankment to provide a wildlife corridor for the Jersey Tiger Moth, which was known to be living in the area, and used trees felled on the site to build homes for reptiles and invertebrates.

We also engaged closely with residents and local schools to minimise disruption and to educate children of the benefits and dangers of the railway environment.

Awards We won Landscape Institute’s 2013 Strategic Landscape Planning Award for our sustainable vegetation management strategy.

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• Implementing a biodiversity action plan

• Embedding requirements for land and biodiversity management into asset policy and standards

• Better understanding the long term management of our contaminated land risk.

Case study 4

Habitat management at WhitemoorWhen we were redeveloping our marshalling yard at Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire, an ecological survey identified that the site consists of acid grassland, which is a unique habitat for the Anglian region.

We were permitted to develop the site, but worked closely with Cambridgeshire County Council, the Wildlife Trust and Natural England to maintain the habitat and support protected species. We maintained a number of rare and newly recorded plant species on site, identified a good number of key invertebrate species and new uncommon species and have supported the population of Great Crested Newts to increase in number since 2011.

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Case study 2 Smart metering

We started a programme to install smart electricity meters into our estate in 2012/13. We continued this

programme through 2013/14 and by November 2014 we will have installed a further 2,400 smart electricity meters.

We will have installed 580 electricity submeters by the end of September 2014 and 380 smart gas meters by July 2014.

Once the programme is complete, these meters will cover some 98 per cent of our estate and save us carbon and around

£6m per year in energy costs.

Energy and carbon

We will become more energy efficient and reduce our carbon emissions through the operation of our business

To improve the energy efficiency of our activities, including better demand management.

To reduce the carbon intensity of our energy supply.

To achieve an efficient level of spend on energy and mitigate price risk.

Objectives

Case study 1 Battery-powered trainsIt would be costly to electrify the many short stretches of track between major routes on our network (branchlines). We are therefore undertaking a project to test the feasibility of using battery-powered trains on such routes. In collaboration with Valence we are undertaking a trial to fit a Class 379 electric train with a lithium battery. These modified electric trains are known as independently powered electrical multiple units and should run for up to 50km on non-electrified track under their own battery power. If the tests prove successful, this technology has the potential to deliver the benefits of electrification to branchlines without the significant infrastructure cost.

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Why it mattersWe need a secure supply of energy to run our network reliably, safely and efficiently. This includes energy created through self-generation from renewables. We need to control energy costs to save money. Our annual energy spend is approximately £330m, of which £70m is on energy consumed within our own operations and £260m on the traction electricity we supply to train operators. Through better management of our energy we will play our part in delivering the UK’s carbon emission reduction targets and mitigate climate change.

Overall carbon footprint Carbon emissions

Carbon emissions generated (tonnes CO2e) 2010/11




Scope 1

Natural gas 15,457 10,965 13,028 10,293

Road vehicle fuel use 55,274 53,311 50,794 52,504

Gas oil 1,541 1,623 1,603 1,557

Calor gas 151 106 134 111

Scope 2

Electricity (non-traction) 232,931 240,929 237,248 194,247

Scope 3

Electricity transmission and distribution

N/A N/A N/A 16,609

Business travel by domestic rail 3,149 2,220 2,022 1,896

Business travel by London taxi 3 2 2 4

Business travel by air 969 1,079 946 1,936

Aviation fuel for helicopters 459 435 405 726

Total for scope 1, 2 and 3 309,933 310,670 306,182 279,883

TOTAL excluding business travel and calor gas - for comparison with 2006/7 baseline

305,661 307,263 303,078 275,936

We have achieved a nine per cent reduction in our carbon footprint in 2013/14 compared to 2012/13.

Performance against our Control Period 4 targets CO2 emissions relating to managed stations, offices and depots against our 2006/07 baseline

Whilst we missed our internal CP4 target we have achieved an 18 per cent reduction in scope 1 and 2 and business travel emissions during Control Period 4. This was achieved through the use of more energy efficient equipment, the closure of older, less-efficient buildings, and the move to our new, BREEAM excellent HQ in Milton Keynes.

-20

-15

-5

0

-10

2009/10

Target

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

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ProgressEnergy policy

In 2013/14 we developed an energy policy which requires consideration of price, security of supply and CO2 emissions.

ElectrificationOur programme of electrification of the network is reducing traction carbon emissions. Our programme of electrification, combined with decarbonisation of grid supplied electricity and other operational improvements, has the potential to reduce the CO2 emissions by 37 per cent per passenger kilometre and by 11 per cent per freight-tonne kilometre and to achieve operating cost savings of around 40 per cent (see Value section).

In conjunction with industry partners we are looking at ways to reduce traction electricity transmission losses. This includes a pilot project to consider the case for converting third rail to overhead line electrification between Southampton and Basingstoke, the latter is much more efficient in terms of transmission losses.

Road vehicle fleetWe continue to work to reduce the carbon emissions from our road vehicle fleet by replacing older vehicles with more efficient and cleaner models and by specifying that they must meet the Euro V emissions limits. We have reduced CO2 emissions by 5 per cent over the last three years.

Awards British Renewable Energy Awards 2013: for Blackfriars Station. Solar Century won the Project Award.

Case study 3 Light emitting diode lighting (LED)LED lighting is more energy efficient and has a longer lifespan than conventional fluorescent lighting, It also has a lower lifetime cost and emits less CO2. We have developed and embedded guidance on how we and our partners (train and fright operating companies and our contractors) can choose and install energy efficient LED lighting.

Our Thameslink programme has taken the decision to make London Bridge the first station at which LED lighting will be used throughout and LED lighting is being used on our stabling site in Brighton following a whole life cost analysis by Carillion.

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Case study 5 Installing

solar panels at Blackfriars station

Commuters arriving at London Blackfriars station on 22 January 2014 were treated to a free cuppa drawn from Britain’s biggest tea cup to celebrate the launch of the world’s largest

solar bridge. The station, which crosses the Thames, hosts the largest solar photo-voltaic roof array in the UK.

More than 4,400 panels, covering an area of more than 6,000m² are generating electricity from the sun’s light. The electricity generated could account for up to 50 per cent of the station’s energy demand and

will reduce the station’s carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 511 tonnes each year. Any excess energy is exported to the national grid.


• Implementing actions to deliver our Control Period 5 (2014 – 2019) targets to achieve an 11 per cent reduction in specific CO2 emissions

• Continuing Project Edison’s pipeline of energy projects

• Progressing approaches to low carbon self-generation.

Case study 4

Project EdisonIn autumn 2013 we commenced Project Edison to mitigate risk in the following three areas:

• Security of supply: to make sure we have sufficient energy now and in the future to support the electrification programme and to operate our buildings

• Managing demand: making sure we use our electricity efficiently

• Managing the price we pay for our electricity: to ensure we get a good deal on the energy we buy on behalf of our customers, the train operating trains and the travelling public.

These areas have a direct effect on how we operate the rail infrastructure cost-effectively and sustainably. For example, the installation of photo-voltaic cells at Rugby provides greater security of supply and reduces CO2. We can also gain value through feed in tariffs through the energy we export back to the grid.

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Weather resilience and climate change adaptation

We are working to make our network resilient to weather impacts and future changes in the climate

Increase current weather resilience to enhance climate change adaptation capability.

Embed adaptation in asset policies, design standards and investment processes.

Understand the role of rail infrastructure in national weather and climate change resilience.

Objectives

Why it mattersThe frequency and intensity of extreme weather events is anticipated to increase in future years and this could impact on the performance of our network. As a key infrastructure manager in Great Britain, we need to make our assets resilient to the weather and maintain the provision of rail services.

Performance against targetsThe impact of weather on our service is reported as part of the Public Performance Measure (PPM). Our performance against PPM target is detailed in the Passenger satisfaction and communication section.

Case study 1 Dawlish, Devon

The extreme winter weather of 2013/14 caused particular difficulties on our line through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall. The line had washed away entirely

at Dawlish and this emergency was widely reported in the British media.

Communities and businesses rely on this line for their livelihoods and so it was vital to reopen it as quickly as possible. We and our partners mobilised immediately to assess the damage and started the process of repairing the line.

Our teams and a wide range of contractors spent some 300,000 hours on site, working around the clock for two months to rebuild the line. The line was reopened

by Prime Minister David Cameron on 4 April 2014, thereby providing access to the South West in time for the economically important Easter Bank Holiday.

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ProgressRoute weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans Our first route climate change adaptation plan has been developed for the Western route. This assesses the vulnerability of the route to weather impacts and regional climate change and details actions to be taken over Control Period 5 (2014 to 2019) and beyond to increase the resilience of the route.

All of our routes will produce weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans by the end of September 2014. These plans are being informed by the detailed information that we collect and store about the minutes of delay caused by specific weather impacts.

Weather resilience and climate change adaptation programme Following the severe weather impacts we experienced on our routes this winter, we enhanced our weather resilience and climate change programme. We reviewed all our existing projects and identified the need for any additional projects in order to support and develop enhance sustained long term resilience. The WRCC programme takes a long-term view of the infrastructure works we need to put in place to mitigate the risk of disruption from extreme weather and maintain an efficient service.

National Infrastructure Owners Adaptation ForumWe continue to engage in the National Infrastructure Owners Adaptation Forum, sharing best practice with other key infrastructure managers such as National Grid, Transport for London and the Highways Agency.

Strategic crisis management teamThe strategic crisis management team was formed to provide a strategic and co-ordinated response to the disruption caused by the very wet and windy weather of winter 2013/14 and to take action to manage future risk from extreme weather. The team brought together experts from across our business with different perspectives on how we can best manage impacts on our routes and assets and keep trains moving. Lessons learnt by the team have been passed onto routes for integration into route weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans and our weather resilience and climate change adaptation programme.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Environment AgencyOur MoU with the Environment Agency, described in the Environmental protection section, is particularly important in defining how we will work together to manage risks associated with extreme weather.


• Developing our route weather resilience and climate change adaptation plans by September 2014 and continuing implementation of our weather resilience and climate change adaptation programme

• Working with the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Natural Resources Wales to improve flood risk management

• Taking our second adaptation report to Government, explaining progress to increase our knowledge of the vulnerabilities of the network and actions being taken to increase weather resilience.

Case study 2 Preventing flooding in Scotland Our Scotland route takes part in quarterly meeting of the SCOTS Flood Group, which comprises representatives from Scottish Government, SEPA, Scottish Water and Flood Risk Managers from each of the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland. The group shares details of and discusses the Flood Risk Assessments under the Flood Prevention Scotland Act 2009, climate change impacts and drainage maintenance in order to plan actions to mitigate and reduce flooding. We take part in the annual Flood Forum conference in Edinburgh to provide key input to this process.

Case Study 3 Tomorrow’s railway and

climate change adaptationWe are contributing to the Tomorrow’s Railway and

Climate Change Adaptation programme. Led by the Rail Safety and Standards Board, its purpose is to coordinate a programme of climate change research for the whole

rail industry. The programme is assessing the economics of resilience, evaluating appropriate metrics for monitoring resilience, and reviewing geographical information system

based decision support tools. The programme is also undertaking an overseas study to assess how rail organisations

in countries with climates that the UK is projected to experience manage weather impact on their rail networks.

24

Communities

We contribute to our local communities and neighbours

To contribute time and money to good causes through the charitable giving and actions of employees.

To address key social issues through strategic national social programmes and partnerships.

To invest in the local communities within which we operate.

Objectives

Why it mattersMany people use and are impacted by the railways. We are committed to work in a conscientious way so that we maximise the wider social benefits of our network. We want to be a national example of best practice in community investment and to share the socio-economic opportunities created by the way we do business.

We receive over 200,000 public enquiries per year and most are resolved at point of contact. We are seeking to improve our resolution times for lineside issues such as litter, fly tipping, graffiti and vegetation. These currently stand at 40 days and we are looking to reduce this to 20.

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Performance against targetsTarget: year on year increases in take-up for employee schemes such as volunteer leave, payroll giving and matched giving.

Payroll giving

Per cent of employees taking part in payroll giving

Other metricsPartnership with Charity of Choice, Action for Children

10%2012/13

11%2013/14

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

2010/11

Number of employee volunteers

Number of days given

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Employee volunteer leave20

10/1

1

2011

/12

2012

/13

2013

/14

2009

/10

0

£50,000

£100,000

£150,000

£200,000

Annual matched giving

Gifts in kind

Matched funding

Workplace funding

Other initiatives

2013/14

2012/13

0 £300,000 £600,000 £900,000 £1,200,000 £1,500,000

Total £767,138

Total £1,251,110.16

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ProgressCharity panels Over 50 charities applied to be our Charity of Choice for 2014/15 and 2015/16. Our central charities panel shortlisted these and a staff vote across our business in January 2014 selected CLIC Sargent.

Our central charities panel continues to meet six times a year to lead and monitor our charitable activities. The panel involves people from across our business, particularly our 80 or so charity ambassadors. The panel chose to support eight additional charities in 2013/14.

Nine route charity panels supported 34 charities local to them who meet our overall charitable objectives.

Our peopleOur people and supply chain partners continue to organise their own charity fundraising and volunteering activities. For example:

• 11 staff from signalling Scotland and North East cycled over 170 miles coast-to-coast from Morecambe to Scarborough and raised £4,829.02 for Macmillan Cancer Support

• Infrastructure Projects signalling Southern region, Waterloo station and South West Trains organised for 60 children from Waterloo to have a tour around the station and a train ride, to support curriculum activities and to educate them about safety

• Through the Southwark Education Business Alliance volunteers from the London Bridge station redevelopment have dedicated an hour a week to Snowsfield Primary School as reading partners, helping students with reading and literacy skills. A group of 11 year olds from the school have also visited the site

• Our people from Reading station and the Great Western electrification project worked with the Construction Youth Trust and Bath University on a Budding Brunels programme, which provided accredited engineering skills training to 22 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

National safety programmeWe continue an important programme with the Samaritans to address the problem of attempted suicide on our network (see Passenger and public safety section).

Community RailOur Community Rail initiative rallied the support of over 300 volunteers to undertake environmental improvement works to over 90 sites around our routes. The year’s biggest scheme was at Snodland in Kent, where we worked with housing association Moat to construct a food-growing area for local residents. Other initiatives around Britain involved clearing invasive buddleia, cutting back undergrowth, litter collection, and the production of a mural in Stockport.

Heritage We work hard to maintain the many heritage assets on the railways, as we know that they are enjoyed by the communities in which they are located. Where the assets are technologically redundant and have to be removed, we try to find new homes for them where they will remain accessible to the public. In 2013/14, for example:

• Billinghust signal box, which dates from 1876, was relocated to Amberley Museum

• Signal boxes from Brereton and Hednesford have been donated to Chasewater Railway and Cannock Chase Council

• At London Bridge station, archaeological finds are being carefully preserved for future public display. 10 of the upright columns and 10 of the foliate spandrels (decorative angle pieces) are being retained to form the cornerstone of a new locomotive museum near Aberystwyth.

Jobs, apprenticeships and skills

The creation of jobs, apprenticeships and skills is an absolute priority to stakeholders such as local authorities, and individuals in the communities within which we operate.

In 2013/14 we recruited over 240 new apprentices to On Track, our national, advanced apprenticeship programme. This provides apprenticeships in track, signalling, electrification and plant, telecoms, and overhead line and equips successful candidates with the skills they need to transform our vast rail network. Our graduate recruitment scheme seeks applicants for opportunities related to electrical and electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, business services, supply chain and property. We offer industrial placements and our STAR scheme, delivered in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, trains and develops track design engineers.

Where our infrastructure projects are impacted by section 106 planning agreements, our teams and supply chain partners make particular efforts to create and report the skills, jobs and apprenticeships they are providing to local people, including young people and those previously unemployed. Significant benefits are being delivered to communities from the redevelopment of New Street station at Birmingham Gateway (see Value section) and Thameslink’s redevelopment of London Bridge station. We are delivering the overground works for Crossrail and so we are supporting delivery of Crossrail’s objectives around targeted recruitment and training.

Community contact We explain how we communicate with communities in the Performance, passenger satisfaction and communication section.

27

Case study 1

Engineering Development Trust (EDT)We work with EDT to deliver a range of educational programmes that link students with people working in science, technology, engineering and maths, to boost skills and aspiration.

In 2013/14, together with our supply chain partners in London, the Midlands, South East and South West regions we have delivered EDT’s Go4Set programmes to year 8 and 9 students in 17 different schools and academies. In Southwark and Lewisham, the groups explored the theme of energy in your school and took part in follow-up site visits.

In Swindon, year 12 students are undertaking a six month flood prevention monitoring programme with three of our engineers as part of the Engineering Education Scheme.

Case study 2

London Bridge Skills Academy

The redevelopment of London Bridge station requires workforce skills that we

have found difficult to access. Thameslink and contractor Costain have, therefore, established a virtual Skills Academy, to

provide training and apprenticeships in a range of construction trades.

The Skills Academy was formally launched on 27 September 2013 and our first apprentices and are being trained as formworkers, steel

fixers and brick layers. We will be able to change the training we provide as the programme of works progress and different skills are needed.

As the Skills Academy is virtual, we will be able to move it onto another project as London Bridge works approach their 2018 completion date.

Participants in the Skills Academy are amongst the 100 or so local people who have benefited from skills, apprenticeship and job opportunities at London Bridge to date. We have successfully recruited to roles

as diverse as cleaning, procurement and commercial, traffic marshalling and traditional construction trades.


• Better defining our process for work placements and work experience to engage people from as wide a range of backgrounds as possible

• Providing input as an employer partner to the new Sir Simon Milton Westminster University Technical College. This is opening in Victoria, London in September 2016 and will educate and train young 14 to 18 year old Londoners for jobs in the transport and construction industries

• Addressing how to train and develop the British resource pool to deliver our electrification programme (see Value section).

Awards / accoladesThe National Payroll Giving Excellence Awards; we won Best Large Employer Campaign.

Gold Quality Mark from Payroll Giving; we’ve moved from bronze to gold in three years.

28

Accessibility and inclusion

Enabling everyone to travel for work and leisure, so that they can play their role in an inclusive and diverse society

Case study: Perth stationOn 20 September 2013, John Swinney MSP for Perthshire North and the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth officially opened Perth station’s new, fully-accessible passenger footbridge.

The £2.4m bridge provides step-free access via lifts to platforms one to five. Mr Swinney, said: “It’s very welcome that Perth is the latest station to benefit from the Access for All scheme. These enhancements have protected the historic appearance of the station while also providing a huge increase in amenity for those travelling to or from Perth.

“This is a very significant investment in our station which underscores both the necessity of maximising access to rail travel for all in our communities, and the importance of Perth on Scotland’s national rail network.”

During the opening attended by local councillors and partners, Mr Swinney made a point of praising the way we and ScotRail are working in an increasingly collaboratively way for the benefit of passengers and to deliver investment efficiently. Perth is the twelfth station in Scot-land to benefit from Access for All.

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To deliver a more inclusive and accessible railway, that serves existing and potential customers, and connects, people, communities, markets and jobs.

Objective Why it mattersThe rail network plays a vital socio-economic role. The accessibility of the railway can determine the extent to which people who face challenges when travelling can be part of the community, workforce, economy and wider society. We need to understand and respond to population and demographic changes that make issues of accessibility and inclusion more important than ever.

MetricsProjects under the Access for All programme completed

2011 2012 2013 201420100

20

40

60

80

120

100

Cum

ulat

ive

num

ber o

f pro

ject

s com

plet

ed 150stations will gain step-free

routes in 2006–2015

1,100stations will benefit from smaller-scale

accessibility improvements in 2006–2015

30

ProgressAccess for AllAccess for All is part of the Department for Transport’s Railways for All Strategy. It was designed to address the issues faced by disabled passengers using railway stations in Great Britain. Central to Access for All is £350m of ring-fenced funds per year to deliver obstacle free, accessible routes to and between platforms at priority stations. This includes the provision of lifts or ramps, as associated works and refurbishment along the defined route; the redevelopment of stations to provide step-free access and a range of other facilities, such as improved lighting, hearing induction loops and passenger information screens. We are tasked with delivering this programme of improvements, working closely with train operating companies and other relevant stakeholders to ensure a co-ordinated approach to works at stations.

Inclusive designWe follow an industry-wide accessible train station design code of practice to improve the accessibility and inclusive design of stations for everyone. This code also describes our duties to meet European standards of accessibility.

We are taking a new, cost effective approach to inclusive design which considers accessibility for everyone and considers sustainable design in stations, offices, depots and training centres.

Built environment accessibility panelWe are embedding inclusive design into our built environment processes and have created a new built environment accessibility panel to help us achieve this. The panel has 12 members, 75 per cent of whom are disabled. All members are rail users and technical experts in inclusion and access. They assist us to deliver inclusive and accessible buildings and infrastructure. Membership will be renewed every three years.

TrainingFollowing on from the successful disability training delivered to our customer-facing staff for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we updated the training. It has now become the Inclusive Service Training and is being delivered across our managed stations. This improved training makes a firm connection between disability awareness and the delivery of a high quality service for everyone whilst directing people and companies working on our managed stations to take a holistic approach to inclusion. This course is co-presented by disabled trainers, offering a more passenger-centred and inclusive learning experience using a discussion-based learning process. This work was commended by the Accessible Transport Select Committee.

We are developing refresher training for staff who have been with us for a long time so that they have access to current inclusive service advice and approaches.

Working with rail industry partnersWe work closely with our industry partners, including the Department for Transport, Transport Scotland and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), to improve journey experiences for every passenger, including disabled and older travellers or those who are travelling with young children, buggies or luggage. Along with considering the physical needs of our passengers and staff, we also make provisions for people with sensory or cognitive impairments and people who have mental health issues. For example, we are members of the Office for Rail Regulation ramps and wheelchair user’s project group and scooter access project group and we are working with Passenger Focus to review the accessibility of our services.

Influencing policyWe attend quarterly meetings on access with the Department for Transport, we are part of the Rail Safety and Standards Board project team on disability and we are feeding into discussions around diversity and inclusion approaches at High Speed 2.

Using our staff networksTwenty members of our disabled staff network, CAN DO, met senior leaders to discuss access to the railways. Their first hand experience is proving invaluable in shaping our priorities and future activity.

31


• Completing delivery of the Access for All programme in 2015. We’ll then improve a further 42 stations identified in Access for All’s additional £105m, of funding

• Continue to train our staff to deliver a high quality service to people who have specific needs, because improving access to, from and through stations is about more than physical enhancements alone

• Developing inclusive design guidance and build inclusive design competence through training and support.

32

Case study 1 Moors Gorse crossing, Cannock ChaseMoors Gorse level crossing was a user worked, public bridleway and cycleway crossing being used by up to 3,000 cyclists every weekend, after new mountain bike trails were created in the adjoining woodland.

A number of near miss incidents had occurred at the site. We replaced the level crossing by investing £1.5m in a new bridge suitable for equestrians and cyclists. We had to buy the private rights attached to the user worked element of the crossing but we later resold the property and recouped the initial outlay.

The closure of this crossing was the 700th of our Control Period 4 programme and was seen as a welcome improvement by former crossing users.

Passenger and public safety

By putting safety at the heart of how we design, manage and maintain our railway we will reduce safety risks for passengers and the public

To eliminate fatalities and serious injury, reduce minor injury and eliminate repeat-cause accidents.

Objective Why it mattersOur railway is one of the safest in Europe. But continuing to improve the safety of people who use or come into contact with our railway is important because accidents, trespass, acts of vandalism and cable theft can lead to injury, damage and delay.

33

Case study 2 Track tests In September 2013, UK rapper Wretch 32 and spoken word performer George the Poet put their hearing to the test in a unique experiment as part of our new safety campaign aimed at young men called Track Tests.

In the previous year 41 people had lost their lives after trespassing on the railway - a total of 270 in five years - with 16-24 year old males making up four out of 10 fatalities. Incidents occurred both at stations and along the railway. A survey for Track Tests reveals that despite most agreeing it’s dangerous to trespass on the tracks, a third of people think they would hear a train in time to move out of the way. This increases to more than half of 16–24 years old males.

The Track Tests video (available on YouTube – youtube.com/user/networkrail) shows how Wretch 32 and George the Poet battle to make a split second decision, relying only on their hearing to work out which direction a train is coming from as it travels towards them at 80mph in the dark. In this instance it’s not a real train but a mocked-up railway in a warehouse, but the impact is very realistic.

“I’ve got 97 per cent hearing, so should have a good idea of where sound is coming from. As soon as I stepped into the Track Test simulator and the normal sounds you’d expect to hear when you’re on the tracks, like traffic noise, are added, I didn’t make it across in time. No matter how much confidence you’ve got in your hearing and speed, when you’re in the dark and a train is coming towards you at 80mph, confidence is not enough to get you across safely.”

Performance against targetsPassenger safety

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Target 0.24

2009/100.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

Pass

enge

r saf

ety

indi

cato

r mov

ing

annu

al a

vera

ge

34

Slips, trips and falls are the largest primary causes of accidents at our managed stations.

Other metricsPassenger safety

0Fatalities

at Network Rail managed stations

2013/14

54Major accidents at Network Rail

managed stations 2013/14

2012/13 2013/142010/112009/10 2011/12

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Total number of Category A signals passed at danger

2012/13 2013/14

0

5

10

15

20

30

35

25

Total number of potentially high risk

train accidents

Potentially high risk train accidents due to factors within Network Rail’s control

0

50

100

150

200

300

250

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Tota

l sui

cide

s and

susp

ecte

d su

icid

es

Suicides and suspected suicides

Number of infrastructure wrong side failures

Track failure

Structure failure

Signalling failure

Other

2012/13Total failures: 74

2013/14Total failures: 115

9 368 28.31

7 351 27.00

Accidental trespasser fatalities (excluding incidents at level crossings)

432012/13

182013/14

Safety at level crossings

Fatalities at level crossings

Number of significant incidents

Rate of significant level crossing events

Level crossing closures

Number of level crossing closures in 2013/14

Actual146

Target

110

Total number of

level crossing closures in CP4

804

All fatalities at level crossings during the year involved adults. The rate of significant level crossing events is at its lowest rate for the whole of Control Period 4 (2009 to 2014).

2012

/13

2013

/14

35

ProgressTrends in public safetyThroughout Control Period 4 (2009 – 2014) the average number of trespasser fatalities has remained relatively consistent. There has been a general reduction in the number of malicious acts (route crime) in 2013/14 and through Control Period 4.

Reducing route crimeCrime on the route includes issues such as obstruction on the line, interference with equipment, vandalism, missiles thrown or fired, and theft (e.g. of cable). We are addressing these issues by:

• Preventing unauthorised access to the network, for example by improving the security of our construction sites

• Working with the British Transport Police and other industry partners to target and co-ordinate approaches to reduce crime against our infrastructure and the people who use it.

Partnership with SamaritansEvery incident of suicide and attempted suicide on the railways is devastating to families. Such incidents also impact negatively on train performance and the travelling public. There are 26 locations on our network that are of particular concern in relation to acts of self-harm. We are introducing physical or psychological barriers at these and other places. The number of incidents at these locations has reduced in 2013/14.

We’ve extended our contract with the Samaritans until 2020, so that we can continue to improve our capabilities to deal with suicides and attempted suicides. Together we are undertaking activity such as training staff to identify, approach and help a person who might be at risk. We’re offering post incident support to the staff involved in traumatic events.

Safety at level crossings We’ve achieved a 30 per cent risk reduction in Control Period 4 (2009 – 2014) by closing over 800 level crossings.

The House of Commons Transport Select Committee made twenty six recommendations to improve the safety of level crossings and eleven of these are specific to us. In response, our chief executive Mark Carne made a full and unreserved apology for past failings.

Mark committed to continue implementation of our level crossing programme. This has exceeded internal targets in 2013/14 and is achieving whole life operational benefits of over £200m in return for £25m investment.

Internal developments To continue to prioritise the safety of our passengers and the public, in 2013/14, we have:

• Undertaken deep dive risk reviews for our track assets, earthworks, structures, level crossings, workforce safety and irregular working. These reviews enable us to understand the causes and mitigations of safety incidents

• Brought our health and safety management system into conformance with the OHSAS18001 standard

• Started to roll out the business critical rules programme to improve the management of competency of those working on our infrastructure

• Continued to train our workforce and promote change to behaviour and culture that supports safer working and the reporting of close calls.


• Continuing to progress level crossing safety through closures and other risk reduction using the £99m allocated for Control Period 5

• Raising public awareness, particularly amongst young people, of the dangers of railway trespass

• Reducing train accident risk through improvements to our asset management and operational controls.

AwardsManagement Consultancies Association (MCA) Awards 2014; our national level crossing team and partners Atkins Management Consultants won Change Management in the Public Sector award.

National Rail Awards 2013; partnership between Samaritans, Network Rail, East Midland Trains, ASLEF and British Transport Police won The Safety Award.

36

Case study 1 Health kiosksWe are using machines allow people to measure weight, body mass index, body fat, blood pressure and heart rate. The health kiosk is quick and self service and no occupational nurse is required. Results can be printed instantly or emailed to the user. Results come with bespoke recommendations on what changes the user might want to make to improve their health. The user can use the kiosk as many times as they wish to measure progress.

Three health kiosks were trialled in London North Western and Kent, and in the first month alone over 1,000 users registered and more than 2,500 tests were completed on the kiosks. We found that 35 per cent of people had raised blood pressure, 69 per cent had elevated body fat levels and 68 per cent had an elevated body mass index. 13 health kiosks are now circulating across our business visiting over 60 buildings during the six-month period. Infrastructure Project’s Scotland and North Eastern team, for example, are promoting the kiosks widely to their teams.

Employee health, safety and wellbeing

We are committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of our people and our visions of everyone home safe every day and everyone fit for the future

Objectives Why it mattersWorking in the safest manner possible, every day, drives performance and makes us a success. We can lower the financial cost of ill-health to our business through investment in health and wellbeing interventions, leading to improved workplace attendance and productivity.

To manage a safe and healthy workplace, with opportunities to promote wellbeing and a supportive culture to do so.

To eliminate fatalities and serious injury,

reduce minor injury and eliminate repeat-case accidents.

37

Performance against targetsLost time injury frequency rate

Other metrics

Close calls

2013/1437,284

Target20,000 or more

Target 8 or less

2013/14

7

Health and safety enforcement notices

This significant number of close-calls indicates how our people are becoming more confident in reporting them.

The workforce safety indicator continues to remain around 0.15 fatalities and weighted injuries per million hours worked. The accident frequency rate and lost time injury frequency rate have also remained constant over the past 18 months.

The annual ratio of working time lost against number of RIDDOR major injuries is 2.48 to 1. This is below the benchmark (as recommended by the Rail Safety and Standards Board) of 3 to 1. The ratio for Infrastructure Projects and Asset Management contractors is 1.42 to 1, which is below the construction industry average of 2 to 1.

0

2

4

6

10

8

2009/10

Aver

age

days

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Average sick days per employee

0

0.5

1.0

2.0

1.5

% of

em

ploy

ees o

n lo

ng-te

rm si

ck le

ave

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Per centage of employees on long-term sick leave

Most common referrals (%)

2012/13 2013/142010/112009/10 2011/120

10

20

30

40

Musculoskeletal issues Psychological conditions

Use of health surveillance and occupational health services

2012/13

2013/14

2011/12

Noise surveillance

Hand arm vibration syndrome

Musculoskeletal disorder referrals

Psychological referrals

Exposure to lead

Exposure to asbestos

0

2,000

1,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

2012/13

2013/14

2011/12

Noise surveillance

Hand arm vibration syndrome

Musculoskeletal disorder referrals

Psychological referrals

Exposure to lead

Exposure to asbestos

0

2,000

1,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

2011/12 2012/13 2013/140.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Mov

ing

annu

al a

vera

ge o

f the

num

ber o

f fat

al

and

lost

tim

e in

jurie

s per

100

,000

hou

rs w

orke

d

38

ProgressPrioritising safetyImmediately upon his appointment as our new chief executive on 24 February 2104, Mark Carne emphasised the importance of our safety vision of everyone home safe every day and the role that every one of our people has in its achievement.

Our safety vision, the belief that safety and business performance go hand in hand, and our requirement that commitments around safety be integrated into personal performance objectives have been rolled out from the executive committee across our organisation during the latter part of March 2014.

CultureWe continue to embed our Lifesaving Rules and we have used the bow-tie method to identify key risks in our business. We are integrating the rules into our asset management risks and associated implementation programmes.

We have been working hard to change behaviour and culture to create a safer network:

• We’ve agreed principles of a fair culture with trades unions and launched them across our business

• We’ve involved around 1,000 staff, whose roles include investigators, line managers, human resources representatives and Trades Union representatives, in Fair Culture workshops.

• Safety conversation training has been delivered to our 400 most senior leaders

• We have developed a Big Picture toolkit, which helps staff understand what a safety culture looks like and what it means for them.

A higher per centage of our people now agree with safety statements such as “where I work, we always apply our learning from mistakes and accidents” than they did in a survey than a year ago.

Safe workingWe have been rolling out our workforce safety 10 point plan, which is intended to create momentum around improving workforce and contractor safety. We are accelerating two particular elements of the plan:

• Roles and responsibilities: establishing clearer accountability for safety on site

• Control of work: delivering an electronic permit to work that gives the safe work leader risk information and the tools to brief the site team effectively.

Safety stand downsIn response to the death of a colleague in January 2014, we organised safety stand down events in early April 2014 at maintenance delivery units across the country. The events comprised animated reconstruction to enable local teams to have safety conversations that will help all of us take better responsibility for keeping ourselves and each other safe.

Employee health and wellbeing strategyWe’ve received executive committee approval to roll out an ambitious and collaborative 10-year strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of our people. We’re resourcing delivery of this strategy by increasing the size of the central health and wellness strategy team and recruiting a full-time, permanent occupational health and wellbeing manager for each of our routes.

Health and wellbeing dataWe’re focused on improving the quality of data in areas such as occupational health diagnoses, health surveillance compliance, employee absence, mental health (including stress) and general wellbeing.

Managing occupational healthWe have improved our understanding of our organisational health and wellbeing performance. We’re working more effectively with our third party service providers and improving understanding of occupational health diagnoses, management referrals, drug and alcohols outcomes and mental wellbeing.

We are working hard to reduce hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) by identifying and addressing risk associated with plant and equipment. We’ve conducted a feasibility trial of HAVS monitors on our Kent route and are investigating the potential to roll these across the business. We’re developing material to enable our routes to develop local action plans to address HAVS.

To address occupational respiratory hazards, we are measuring the risk posed by exposure to respirable crystalline silica during specific tasks and will use this information to inform future improvement actions. We’ve worked with our occupational health service provider, BUPA, to make an incidental asbestos exposure assessment available.

We’ve developed educational materials such as videos, posters and presentations to raise the awareness of occupational health and wellbeing.

39


• Reducing road-related risk and developing technology for safer trackside working

• Reducing risk from hand-arm vibration and work-related stress

• Continuing to improve safety culture.

Mental wellbeingWe ran a series of articles and events related to World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Week. During December 2013 and April 2014, we delivered courses in both mental health first aid and mental resilience and our business functions are now further developing skills and competencies around mental wellbeing through these courses. We worked with our professional development and training function to embed content related to workplace stress and resilience within our Tomorrow’s Leaders training programme.

One of the key risks for our people’s mental wellbeing is exposure to potentially traumatic incidents, such as suicides or fatalities on our infrastructure. We have trialled the use of traumatic incident management training in our South East route, with the aim of developing a peer network that is able to support colleagues and spot potential warning signs relating to mental health.

Working collaboratively for employee health and wellbeingOur chief medical officer has met with members of the rail Industry Safety Leadership Group and established a cross-industry working group focused on the issue of HAVS, as well as working with our internal group strategy team on the issue of effluent discharge from moving trains.

Our contracts and procurement team is embedding principles of effective health management into the pre-qualifying questionnaire process for contingent labour supply.

We publically signed up to the Department of Health’s Responsibility Deal for Construction and Civil Engineering and then partnered with our Infrastructure Projects function to encourage their major contractors to do the same.

We are currently in the process of installing automated external defibrillators in approximately 400 of our major corporate buildings, managed stations, depots and delivery units.

We’ve expanded the range of health-related offers available to our people, including discounted memberships at 2,500 gyms nationwide, discounted health assessments and wellness vouchers, as well as promoting our Cycle-to-Work scheme.

Case study 3 New Sentinel system

Sentinel is the system that monitors and records the competency of our employees and contractors to work

on our infrastructure. The new Sentinel system was introduced and rolled-out in 2013/14 and uses smartcard

technology to encrypt, store and update information. This enables us to better verify that everyone who accesses the railways has the correct credentials to do so. This is

enabling better competence management and control over the contingent labour force and there are already

indications of improved management of safety risk. We have also rationalised sponsorship arrangements for each cardholder, so that there is one single, accountable sponsor

for an individual’s health, safety and wellbeing. This is a step forward in managing fatigue risk to our workforce.

Case study 2 Short films to change behaviour

and cultureSix Lifesaving Rules short films were developed, depicting the human

consequences of breaking these rules. Designed to be hard-hitting, they were aimed at all our employees, and made available from

the end of January 2014 on the Safety Central website and on our corporate YouTube channel – youtube.com/user/networkrail

40

Employee engagement and development

We are investing in our people

Case study 1 Your Voice

In 2013/14 we commissioned ORC International to design a new survey and approach to employee engagement that was better focussed on business drivers than our previous Q12 employee

questionnaire, and that included scope for localisation.

The resultant Your Voice questionnaire focused on behavioural issues. We explained our reasons for using the questionnaire to our employees through an extensive internal communications programme and issued it

to all direct employees in November 2013. We tried hard to make sure that the questionnaire was accessible to employees with dyslexia and all types

of disability.

We invited responses on a voluntary rather than mandatory basis; on-line, on paper or over the phone. The response rate exceeded our expectations,

at 46 per cent.

We analysed all the responses at a corporate and a team level. We fed the learning back to all teams during March and April 2014, by managers talking through slide decks of findings, at their regular team meetings.

We have delivered:

• Presentations to all leaders across our business; 21 in total

• Results to 4,500 line managers and we are supporting them with engagement planning through training

• Comments reports to 250 line managers.

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To engage employees, manage talent and plan for succession.

Objective Why it mattersTo deliver our strategic objectives we need a high-performing culture across our 34,000 staff. This means having engaged employees, who are motivated to ‘go the extra mile’, and have the freedom to innovate. Our employees must be well trained and receive the support necessary to maximise their potential and provide the best possible pool of talent to continuously drive the business forward.

MetricsInvestment in further education and formal qualifications

2012 201320102009 20110

100

150

50

200

250

Apprenticeship

Graduates

MSc

Part time PGC

Part time BEng

Foundation degree

Conversion engineers

Num

ber o

f peo

ple

Employee training

2012 201320102009 2011 2012 201320102009 20110

2

3

1

4

5

Delegate days

Delegate days per capita0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

Del

egat

e da

ys

Del

egat

e da

ys p

er c

apita

42

ProgressPerformance managementWe’ve clarified processes, guidance and forms around performance reviews for executive and bands one to eight employees. We have enhanced our process for setting SMART (specific, measurable, aligned, realistic and time-specific) objectives and goals, to ensure they address behaviours, safety and, where relevant, the management of people. Alongside formal interim and final performance review meetings, we encourage managers to have regular one to one meetings with their staff.

Talent managementWe now have a realistic view of the succession pipelines, and their readiness, for top 21 key roles.

Training and developmentWe provide employees (leaders, line managers and front line staff) with training, learning opportunities and support to help them meet development needs and business objectives:

• We support line managers with the Assessment in the Line process, providing feedback and guidance to help managers make the right decisions on the competence of their staff and decide whether any training is needed or not

• We work across our business to implement the development needs analysis process for our employees

• We offer employees a range of instructor lead training, e-learning and workshops, through an on-line training catalogue

• We’ve invested £25m in four state-of the-art workforce development centres in Larbert, Paddock Wood, Bristol, York and Walsall and others are in development. These are comprehensively equipped to enable practical training in safe and increasingly realistic environments, including replicas of internal and external track layouts and overhead line spans

• We have an accelerated leadership programme to train our leaders of the future and a tomorrows leader programme for those who manage people

• We facilitate coaching and mentoring and support people to become coaches and mentors, themselves

• We train and support all staff working on our infrastructure to achieve our intent of everyone home safe everyday. This is outlined in the Employee health, safety and wellbeing section.

Technology strategyWe’ve embarked on a programme that will migrate our performance management and talent and succession processes to online systems for executive and Band 1 – 8 employees by mid 2015. This will drive greater consistency of deployment, enhance the support tools available to employees and allow more visible alignment between people’s personal objectives and the overall goals of the business.

Employee consultation and engagement In 2013/14 we undertook Your Voice to engage and consult with our employees and to work out what we need to do better in the future.

Internal communicationWe work hard to reach our 34,000 employees at their 1,350 workplaces, with information about our activities and plans. We also explain what we require of those employees and how we can support them to achieve:

• We’ve adapted our Connect News weekly e-newsletter to be accessible on mobile devices as well as laptops and PCs

• We’ve introduced a new magazine for our people called Network. We circulate this in both hard copy and electronic versions. It is people-orientated with a strong emphasis on telling human stories at pace

• We continue to organise an annual programme of business briefings along with management cascades and team briefings

• We celebrate success by sharing information, through Connect News, on all the awards that we and our staff win. We organise our own Make the Difference awards. At our November 2013 ceremony, there were eight winners who had been selected, by 60 employee judges, from more than 850 nominations.

Preparing for Control Period 5We have identified the competences and established the management structure that we need to deliver our commitments for Control Period 5 (2014–2019). This has involved the implementation of a management efficiency programme that will achieve a 15 per cent executive and management salary bill reduction.

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• Delivering our new, one-day corporate induction programme to all new employees

• Undertaking comments text mining on the comments received back through Your Voice engagement and undertaking Pulse cultural surveys

• Preparing a new process to move the business to review all talent that will support the work of talent review boards.

Case study 2

Our behavioursIn late 2012, our board defined how to put our values into action by defining our behaviours. These identify how we will only be successful if we are customer driven, accountable, collaborative, and prepared to challenge. These are now being passed through our business by integrating them into:

• The Strategic Business Plan which sets out how the business will deliver our outputs for Control Period 5 (2014 – 2019)

• The key stages of employee lifecycle, including recruitment, induction and performance management

• The core capability framework that is applied to organisational resourcing, learning and development

• The work of the safety leadership team, who deliver training, workshops and toolbox talks to our 17,000 frontline staff.

We have produced a simple, one-page Help Guide to our behaviours, so that employees and managers better understand how to demonstrate them.

Case study 3

Business briefingsWe organise an annual programme of half day business briefings, at venues across the UK, each year. At these, our chief executive, representatives of our routes and our infrastructure projects and other internal and external speakers explain our and rail industry priorities and what we will all be doing to achieve these over the next few years.

Our 2012/13 programme comprised 18 briefings at nine different venues between 8 March 2012 and 26 April 2013. Attendance is voluntary. Around 7,000 employees chose to register for and attend these sessions.

We invited participants to submit questions for speakers, in advance. We posted responses to these questions, and reports on each session from participants themselves, on our intranet.

44

Diversity and inclusion

We are building a more open, diverse and inclusive organisation so that we attract the best possible talent, encourage creativity and innovation, and continually improve our safety and performance

Access and inclusion: We will establish a culture which is inclusive for all our employees, enhances their individual and our collective performance and makes our recruitment and promotion processes open and accessible for all.

Behaviours and benchmarking: We will promote our corporate behaviours that support collaboration, being customer driven, accountable and challenging.

We measure our approach against other businesses to gauge our progress.

Collaboration: We will work internally across the business and externally with other organisations and stakeholders to

promote diversity and inclusion.

Objectives

Why it mattersBy being more open, diverse and inclusive we will enhance our safety and performance. We will realise the creativity, innovation and problem-solving of our people. This will help us to attract and retain the best people from diverse backgrounds and experiences and build more effective working relationships with our customers, partners and suppliers.

45

MetricsEthnicity data

Gender pay gap

Network Rail: 1%

National: 10%Our performance is significantly better than the national average.

We know there is limited staff turn-over within our business and so, ethnicity and gender data gives a partial picture of our approach to diversity and inclusion. For 2013/14 we are reporting data across a range of characteristics to provide a richer illustration of people within Network Rail.

Ethnicity and gender of apprentices and graduate trainees

1.7% of our apprentices and 11% of ourgraduate trainees are black and minority ethnic.

2.6% of our apprentices and 10.4% of our graduate trainees are women.

Disability20 per cent of those who took part in our diversity monitoring update answered the question about disability. Of those that did 3.9 per cent declared a disability compared to 19 per cent in the UK working-age population. We are therefore working to increase declaration rates, which will make it easier to measure our progress towards offering inclusive employment opportunities for disabled people.

Age

We know that the age profile of our employees is generally reflective of the population of the UK. We must also plan for skills gaps caused by people retiring from our workforce.

Sexual orientation 20 per cent of those who took part in diversity monitoring answered the question about sexual orientation. Of those that did 0.7 per cent told us that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, which is much lower than all estimates for people living in the UK.

We believe that there is significant under-reporting of disability and sexual orientation and we are working to create an environment where staff can be open about these issues.

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

2012/13 2013/14

White

Black andminority ethnic

Undeclared orunknown

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

2012/13 2013/14 Male

Female

Gender data

We are pleased with the reduction in the levels of unknown within the business. We anticipate a further reduction as staff become more comfortable and confident with the purpose of diversity and inclusion monitoring.

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

2012/13 2013/14

White

Black andminority ethnic

Undeclared orunknown

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

2012/13 2013/14 Male

Female

46

ProgressWe’re making progress in building a more open, inclusive and diverse organisation.

We’ve created our first ever diversity and inclusion team which is a centre of expertise for the whole business, responsible for an ambitious and extensive programme of work for Control Period 5 (2014 to 2019). The team gives shape to and monitors and measures our approach to diversity and inclusion. The team also makes links with the significant culture change programmes including safety and sustainable development, health and well-being and transparency.

We published a draft diversity and inclusion strategy; Everyone which describes our activities for the next five years. It has three broad themes of access and inclusion, behaviours and benchmarking and collaboration. The centre of expertise will lead its delivery and support each route and business function to implement their own local action plans.

Access and inclusionWe’ve delivered our inclusive leadership programme to over 1,500 of our leaders, including our chairman, the chair of the audit committee and members of the executive committee.

We’ve developed a range of learning initiatives, some for specific teams or routes for example diversity conversations. Others address particular topics for instance flexible working, or inclusive safety behaviours, or training for our hiring managers.

Integrating diversity and inclusion so that it becomes part of the day job has been an important feature of our progress in 2013/14: within Your Voice our employee engagement survey, our corporate induction for new employees and the induction for people new to line management, considerations about diversity and inclusion are reflected.

There have been a number of presentations to schools, colleges and job fairs by our STEM (science, technology, mathematics and engineering) ambassadors and staff network members. Similarly, the Could IT Be You competition for young women was created to increase the number of young women considering IT as a career path whilst promoting Network Rail as a place for women to work.

Case study 1

Our staff networksIn June 2013 we launched three staff networks which reflected those groups who traditionally are either under-represented in the business or may experience discrimination. The staff networks are: Archway for our lesbian, gay and bi-sexual and trans gender staff; Cultural Fusion for our staff from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds; and Inspire for our women. Each network was sponsored by a member of the executive committee, has a leadership team and has set out their plans for supporting diversity and inclusion.

The staff networks have been active ambassadors for us at jobs and skills fairs. The staff networks are open to everyone and have increasing membership across the organisation. They have also been a helpful site for consulting on policy developments and diversity impact assessments.

For example, the Health and Safety Executive recently proposed amending the exemption in the Employment Act 1989, so that in any industry, Sikhs who wear turbans would be exempt from the need to wear head-protection. Our safety team realised that there may be potential cultural considerations associated with this issue and so contacted Cultural Fusion. Most members supported the proposal for the exemption to be extended, and recommended that consideration be given to the design of protective headwear to be worn over a turban.

During late 2013 we set up the second set of staff networks, one for staff who are carers, one for disabled staff and another for staff of different faiths and beliefs. Following the same approach as the first three the networks are proving a rich source of expertise and feedback for our business and help to test out our messaging.

AccoladesBusiness in the Community

‘Opportunity Now’ and ‘Race For Opportunity’ schemes: we achieved a bronze level in each.

47

Behaviours and benchmarking

We know that under-reporting for particular groups of staff needs attention and can mask some of the challenges they experience in the work place. We have introduced the Managing Disabled Staff training programme and have published a Reasonable Adjustments Policy. We have also supported deaf awareness training to over 100 employees, delivered by one of our own member of deaf staff. We have an Equality and Inclusion Trade Union working group which has amongst other things partnered with us on developing guidance about managing bullying and harassment.

Diversity impact assessments have been piloted including the transparent pay project, to ensure that we have considered the effect of our approach on everyone and we will extend this to a number of initiatives and policy developments.

For the first time, we benchmarked our approach to diversity and inclusion externally against other organisations.

Collaboration

We’ve built important links with membership organisations and external bodies that promote diversity and inclusion. For example: • We are proud to be the lead employer sponsor of the Sir

Simon Milton University Technical College (UTC). The UTC aims to attract a high proportion of girls and young people from ethnic minority communities across London to study engineering-related subjects

• We are working with Women in Engineering and Science , Women in Science and Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering and other partners in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics sector, to attract significant numbers of younger people and those from minority groups into our industry as we have an ageing workforce

• We developed a new code of practice for contingency labour suppliers that includes a positive commitment to diversity and inclusion

• We sponsored the Rail Business awards’ first diversity and inclusion award category and the Women in Science and Engineering awards.


• Implementing our diversity and inclusion strategy Everyone, including establishing meaningful key performance indicators

• Facilitating collaboration; supporting suppliers to promote diversity, inclusion and inclusive design within their workforces and operations, promoting inclusive procurement and promoting diversity and inclusion across the rail industry

• Implementing other initiatives around collaboration, behaviours and benchmarking.

Case study 2

Women in RailWomen in Rail is a key initiative, set up by Angel Trains to address the under-representation of women in our industry. We joined the steering committee comprised of Bombardier, Clifford Chance, East Midlands Trains, ESG, Northern Trains and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), to help give greater prominence to women who represent 17.6 per cent of employees in the sector. Women in Rail has a LinkedIn membership, and convenes regular meetings and produces a quarterly newsletter.

Following its launch Women in Rail developed three priorities, networking/communications, mentoring and engaging with young women. Women in Rail set up a mentoring working group to establish a mentoring programme for the rail industry. The group facilitated a number of new mentoring pairs of people working in different organisations. Women in Rail is continually developing the programme and there will be further tranches as the membership of Women in Rail increases.

48

Value

We plan for the long term development of the rail network and constantly seek more efficient ways of working to reduce the burden on taxpayers, funders and rail users

To enhance the network, delivering outputs that taxpayers, investors and funders value.

To continuously reduce the whole system,

whole life net cost of the railway.

To deliver a successful periodic review process over the next four years, agreeing the outcomes with our funders and

regulator and establishing the basis for our next funding and investment period (2019 – 2024) - Control Period 6.

Objectives

Why it mattersWe exist to generate outstanding value for taxpayers and rail users by continually improving the railway. Investment in our infrastructure and services represents a key component of sustainable development in Great Britain.

49

MetricsWe’ve spent more than £39bn to deliver more than 9,000 projects since 2009.

Our annual investment in renewing and expanding our network is increasing each year in real terms.

CP4 investment programme

ProgressHow we are delivering value to Great BritainWe are stimulating the northern economy through improved access and connectivity to labour and markets through the Northern Hub project.

We are improving journey times and connectivity between other economic centres through targeted journey time reduction schemes, including line speed improvements in East Midlands, Yorkshire, Bristol and Oxford areas.

We are creating a more efficient, greener and safer transport system. Initiatives to support this include the strategic freight network fund, electrification programmes and new and cascaded electric trains including the Intercity Express Programme.

We’re supporting economic growth in London and the South East through our Thameslink and Crossrail programmes, the remodelling of Reading station and other capacity and station schemes.

EfficiencyWe are reducing costs and creating a more efficient railway through smarter, more efficient ways of working, closer integration with the industry and making the infrastructure more efficient through programmes like electrification. This includes a programme to consolidate the existing network of signal boxes into 12 operating centres and reductions in the cost of support functions.

Whole life costingWe’ve mandated the use of whole life costing (WLC) analysis across our business. We’ve published a WLC manual to ensure this is undertaken effectively. Our approach to WLC analysis includes consideration of each of our sustainable development priorities. Embedding WLC analysis has already delivered significant benefits including:

• 30 per cent cost reduction and saved time in the delivery of our level crossings closure programme

• Improving the effectiveness of the development of plans for enhancing the number of trains per hour between London Waterloo and Windsor stakeholders, by engaging key stakeholders with the maintenance and operational implications of the options proposed

• Identifying the optimal equipment to electrify the Midland Main Line between Bedford and London St Pancras

• Improved decision-making within our Thameslink programme, for example around the station-wide use of LED lighting, level access platforms and the use of terrazzo flooring instead of granite.

We are becomingly increasingly efficient. As a result of all the investment that we describe in this Sustainability update, our operating costs measured per train mile running on our network, are 46 per cent lower in 2013/14 than they were in 2003/4.

Controllable operating costs per train mile (2013/14 prices)

2003

/04

2009

/10

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

2010

/11

2011

/12

2012

/13

2004

/05

2005

/06

2006

/07

2007

/08

2008

/09

2013

/14

Cost

(£)

2009/10

Renewals Enhancements

4

3

2

1

02010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

2013

/14

pric

es £

’bn

50

Our approachPlanning with partners to deliver the best for Great BritainIn 2013/14 we completed our period review process for the next five years, Control Period 5. Our planning process for Control Period 6 (2019-2024) is now underway.

Alongside the five year review process we have a long-term and on-going planning cycle that enables elements of the rail network to be planned in a way that is flexible and includes the views of all stakeholders. For example, in March 2014, we published a study on how the West of Exeter route can be made more resilient to extreme weather, with a view to agreeing future works with stakeholders.

Investment decision-makingOur group investment team is responsible for managing robust, internal decision-making around the investment to deliver our business plans. In 2013/14 we issued a new format for making investment proposals to our board. All investment proposals must include an answer and explanation to the question “does this project have a positive social, economic or environmental impact?”.

Economic valueWe’ve been working to access the funds required for the new investment commitments we have made for Control Period 5, such as Thameslink, the Northern Hub and mainline electrification. New investments are typically funded by raising new debt. We are reducing the cost of our finance so that as much investment as possible can be made in our network:

• Our borrowings are guaranteed by the UK Government, giving us credit ratings in line with the UK sovereign. This enables us to access cost-efficient financing in the international bond markets

• Our bonds are held by a global investor base. We have issued debt in Sterling as well as US Dollars

• We’ve protected ourselves against rising interest rates over the next five years.


• Preparatory planning for the next periodic review process and continuation of route studies

• Provision of advice to the Department for Transport and other stakeholders on the impact of High Speed 2 on the current network

• Achieving efficiency improvements in our business.

Case study 1 Electrification of our rail network Electrification provides faster, quieter, greener and more reliable journeys for passengers and freight users. It reduces wear and tear on our track.

Even after taking account of additional infrastructure maintenance costs, electrification has the potential to contribute to cost savings of around 40 per cent.

Electrification reduces traction carbon emissions by replacing diesel used in locomotives with electrical power.

At present, around 40 per cent of the railway network in Great Britain is electrified. We’ve committed to electrification schemes across the country over the next five years. The first phase of the North West electrification project was completed in December 2013 allowing electric trains to travel between Manchester and Scotland and delivering a 30 per cent increase in

capacity. We’re delivering electrification of other routes in the North including the north Trans Pennine corridor, together with the Great Western and Midland Main Lines, South Wales Valleys and routes in the West Midlands and Scotland. When we complete the electrification programme set out in our business plan for Control Period 5 (2014 – 2019) of 50 per cent of the network will be electrified and 80 per cent of vehicle miles will be able to operate through electric traction.

We’re refreshing our Network Route Utilisation Strategy: Electrification, which investigates the case for further electrification of the network beyond currently committed schemes.

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Case study 2

Birmingham GatewayOur Birmingham New Street station redevelopment is part of the wider Birmingham Gateway project. It is creating an icon for Britain’s second city. It will transform the experience for passengers, improve links to and through the city centre and is acting as a catalyst for growth for the local area’s economy.

The project is backed by Birmingham City Council, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, Centro and the Department for Transport. It is supported by the city’s business leaders, passengers and the wider public.

We completed the first phase of the station redevelopment on 28 April 2013, when we opened the first half of the new concourse. This is one and a half times the size of the old concourse with better facilities and improved accessibility between the station and platforms. When the project is completed in 2015, the station will be enclosed by a giant atrium, allowing natural light throughout the station and to all 12 refurbished platforms. We are improving accessibility for passengers by installing 15 new lifts and 30 new escalators.

Our works are adding significant value to the city:

• The redeveloped Pallasades shopping area is being relaunched as Grand Central Birmingham. The new John Lewis store to the south of the station is creating up to 1,000 new jobs

• Improved transport connections will stimulate regeneration in the area

• The stunning station will add to Birmingham’s reputation for good design and transform New Street into a world class destination

• We and our partners have a goal to leave a legacy of skills, training and education in the community

• We are creating supply chain opportunities or local businesses.

James Skyrme from Birmingham, became the 100th apprentice to be recruited to work on site at Birmingham New Street. He is an apprentice for local demolition firm Coleman & Company.

“Apprenticeships are vital to ensure that we are training our next generation of young people. To achieve this milestone of 100 apprentices gives a strong message of what can be achieved through leading by example and striving for excellence in skills and employment.”

Councillor Tahir Ali, cabinet member for development, jobs and skills, Birmingham City Council

“Birmingham New Street is our highest value project to date and the most complex. Working with Network Rail and Mace since September 2009, we have removed 20,000 tonnes of mass reinforced concrete from site with minimal noise, dust or vibration, complying with the strictest of project requirements. We’ve invested heavily in engineering, specialist cutting and most importantly our people. We’ve built a unique range of specialist demolition skills. It was great for our work to be recognised at a global level at the World Demolition Awards.”

Mark Coleman, Managing Director, Coleman & Company Limited

52

Case study 1 Anglia route and Greater Anglia improving performanceOur Anglia route reduced delay minutes by around 12 per cent through Control Period 4 (2009–2014), whereas delay minutes across the industry overall increased. This significant improvement in performance was achieved through effective partnership working between us and the train operating company, Greater Anglia.

During summer 2012, Anglia route and Greater Anglia worked closely together to achieve a record per centage of trains arriving at their destination on time during the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. At that time we also asked over 94,000 customers about what mattered to them most about our service. We have taken lessons learnt from that period and applied them since. We’ve addressed issues that are most important to our customers, such as communicating with them better, and we’ve thought about new and inventive ways of improving performance. We have worked together as an industry to improve our performance and our reputation. As a result we’ve continued to reduce minutes caused by delays, including those resulting from cable theft. We’ve significantly decreased compensation payments that have been made for late train arrivals, which is enabling reinvestment in further improvements for customers.

Performance, passenger satisfaction and communication

Every day, in everything we do, we are working to make the railway better and to maintain positive relationships with the millions of people who use, or are affected by, our network

To satisfy our stakeholders by communicating with them effectively and meeting their expectations around train performance and other aspects of their journey.

Objective Why it mattersFour million people a day use our network and around 20 million people live within 500 metres of a UK railway line. We connect people to places and jobs. Our role is fundamental to the economy. Our responsibility is to enable people and goods to be transported safely, to where they want to be, on time, every time.

We must understand our stakeholders, be responsive to their needs and manage enquiries from them so that we can organise our business to best deliver value to them.

Other metricsNumber of trains running on our network

Running more trains on our network is contributing to passenger satisfaction, as passengers have more choice and flexibility. We now run 600,000 more trains a year than at the start of Control Period 4, in 2009.

2009/10

600,000

500,000

400,000

300,000

200,000

100,000

02010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Nat

iona

l tra

ins p

er p

erio

d(a

vera

ge o

ver 1

3 pe

riods

with

in y

ear)

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Train punctuality

We know from customer surveys that train punctuality is the issue that most influences passenger satisfaction. We measure train punctuality (to what extent trains have arrived on time) through public performance measure (PPM). This means commuter trains arriving at their destinations within five minutes of scheduled arrival times and long distance services arriving within 10 minutes.

Performance against targetsPassenger satisfaction

In autumn 2013 customer satisfaction varied significantly between different train operating companies (the range is 76 per cent to 96 per cent) and on different routes (74 per cent to 98 per cent).

Enquiries made to our contact centre

We want to make it easy for people to make contact with us in whichever way they prefer. Our stakeholders still overwhelmingly preferred to contact us by telephone. The majority of emails that we receive come through the online forms on our website.

Calls answered by a helpline advisor

Target80% in 30 seconds

Actual79.78%

Target80% in 30 seconds

Actual93.08%

Target90% within 24 hours

Actual88.58%

Target90% within 24 hours

Actual92.64%

Emails logged and acknowledged

Letters logged and acknowledged

Emergency calls answered by a helpline advisor

Performance of our national helpline contact service Contact resolution

Case backlogs at year end

Target 3,500

Actual3,904

Issues raised by the public resolved within 20 days

or less

Target 100%

ActualThis is a new target

and data is currently being collected, for

publication later in 2014

Spring 2010

Target 90%100

80

60

40

20

0Autumn

2010Spring 2011

Autumn 2011

Spring 2012

Autumn 2012

Spring 2013

Autumn 2013

Ove

rall

satis

fact

ion

(%)

2009/10

25

75

100

50

02010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

PPM

Target 92%

200,000

150,000

50,000

100,000

0

Phone calls Emails Post

Num

ber o

f enq

uirie

s

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Passenger satisfaction with our managed stations

The National Passenger Survey shows that passengers are broadly satisfied with their experience of using the stations that we manage. There is significant variability in satisfaction across our managed stations, driven at least in part, by the programme of station investments that we have in place.

100%

80%

20%

40%

60%

0

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anag

edst

atio

ns

Lond

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. Pan

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ProgressTrains arrived on timeTrain punctuality is affected by many factors, such as poor weather, incidents on the track (vandalism, cable theft) and maintenance and construction works not being completed on time. Around 60 per cent of train delays are directly attributable to our infrastructure and operations. We, and the wider rail industry, are working hard to address all factors that affect train punctuality, for example through programmes to improve our resilience to extreme weather and to improve safety.

We continually remind our people of how important train punctuality is to us, by communicating real-time public performance measures on screens in our Head Office and other locations and explaining period (four weekly) performance through our Connect newsletters and intranet site.

Passenger satisfaction with our managed stationsOver the past few years we have made substantial investment in a number of our managed stations including London St Pancras, London King Cross and Manchester Piccadilly. It is clear from the recent results of the most recent National Passenger Survey that stations passengers are very positive about their experience at such stations.

On the other hand stations where investment is planned (London Euston) or is underway (London Victoria, London Bridge and Birmingham New Street), and so where passengers might face disruption, are much lower. We anticipate satisfaction with these stations rising as improvements are completed.

National Helpline serviceThe periods of extreme weather during 2013/14 lead to significant spikes in the volumes of calls received by our contact centre. We always prioritise our response to potential safety calls logged via our emergency line and so we are pleased to have significantly exceeded our target for emergency responsiveness.

Social mediaWe are increasing our use of social media. Our following on social media increased by 121 per cent to 49,732 in 2013/14 and we received 40 per cent more tweets from our followers. Of the tweets we send out approximately 45 per cent were proactive information tweets rather than reactive tweets, which reply to queries and questions. In 2012/13 just 25 per cent of our tweets were proactive.

Case study 2

Most satisfied rail passengers in EuropeA survey of over 26,000 Europeans by the European Commission was conducted in September 2013 to examine rail passengers’ satisfaction with domestic rail services, including trains, railway stations and accessibility for people with reduced mobility. The survey found that passengers rated the UK’s railway the best major network in the European Union.

Overall, almost four out of five people (78 per cent) surveyed in the UK gave either a high or good rating to services on its railway – ahead of satisfaction levels among passengers in France (74 per cent), Netherlands (67 per cent), Germany (51 per cent) and Italy (39 per cent). Of the 26 countries covered in the survey, only Finland with a much smaller, less complex rail network, scored a higher overall rating than in the UK.

We and the train operating companies run more trains across Great Britain than are run in most European countries – almost 20 per cent more than in France and 60 per cent more than in Italy. We run more trains each day than Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Norway combined.

You’ve rated our railway top for punctuality and reliability

You’ve rated our railway top in Europe

Germany

51% 74% 39%78%

UK France Italy

GermanyUK France Italy

57% 48% 47%73%

Germany

51% 74% 39%78%

UK France Italy

GermanyUK France Italy

57% 48% 47%73%

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Our approachCollaborative industry approach to improve performanceWe have implemented the performance planning reform programme that changes the way we work with train operating companies (TOCs) to improve performance and meet our targets for Public Performance Measure through Control Period 5. These plans are underpinned by a suite of analytical tools, which we developed with cross-industry input, in order to identify and analyse those issues that have the greatest impact on public performance measure attrition. These tools are utilised to create performance strategies for each TOC, which are live documents which we’ll review each quarter between the TOCs and our routes. Performance is a cross-industry priority, so this collaborative approach to better and more strategic planning is critical to achieving the level of outputs we are seeking. The programme was commissioned by the rail industry’s National Task Force and has strong collective backing.

Types of queries and how we respondWhen people contact us through the National Helpline we aim to resolve their enquiries immediately. More complex issues that cannot be resolved by the Helpline are assigned to our local contact and communities teams to progress. Some issues, though, require further investigation, particularly where physical work might be required. In these cases we our route colleagues aim to investigate and resolve the issues within 20 days. We prioritise enquiries relating to safety, trespass and vandalism which require an immediate response by liaising with our local control centres.

Top seven problem types addressed by our helpline in 2013/14

Contacting communitiesOur contact and communities teams also proactively manage issues that may affect local communities, such as working with project teams to notify lineside neighbours of planned works. We are continually looking to improve our pre-notification communication to our lineside neighbours as advocacy and favourability levels towards Network Rail are significantly higher (46 per cent to 64 per cent) if we notify people of our work than if we don’t (19 per cent to 40 per cent).


• Investing in technology and infrastructure to boost performance. Our business plan for Control Period 5, Delivering a Better Railway betterrailway.co.uk, explains the investment that we are making through to 2019

• Complete the implementation of our new customer relationship management system

• Increasing the number of hours in the day that we can provide support through Twitter.

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Ethics and transparency

We want to become more open, honest and accessible

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Why it mattersBy working in a more open way we will improve the quality of the decisions we make and become more accountable for them, increase our ability to work in more innovative and efficient ways, make our processes more efficient and enable information and data to be used more effectively.

Access to information is fundamental to transparency. When we become subject to the Freedom of Information Act from April 2015, anyone will have a legal right to ask for information, and to get a response within 20 working days. This will increase the flow of information between us and the outside world, strengthening our accountability and driving improved understanding of what we do.

When we demonstrate integrity at all times, in all our business dealings, we will increase employee retention and our attractiveness as an employer, improve financial performance, improve our reputation and trustworthiness and protect the organisation from risks of criminal liability and legal non-compliance.

ProgressEthics training for employeesWe ran a series of pilot workshops on ethical business practice across the business in July and August 2013. Approximately 500 people took part. Following positive feedback, we are committed to making training available to all our people. We are developing an interactive e-learning package to help us achieve this.

Communication campaignWe launched our Not So Superheroes communication campaign. This uses calendars and posters to promote awareness of ethical issues and the Speak Out whistle-blowing line to our people at every company location across Great Britain. We’ve increased the communication that we send out through our intranet and other routes to help drive engagement and raise awareness of ethics.

Ethics in our supply chainsWe’ve worked with the Rail Industry Supplier Qualification Scheme to strengthen the bribery, corruption and fraud related questions that are used within the Achilles Link-up Engage pre-qualification questionnaire. From June 2014, all of the suppliers we use from the Link-up Engage database (c. 3,700) will be required to make declarations around ethics. We’ve also developed a code of conduct for contingent labour, adherence to which will form a key part of our tender processes moving forward.

Governance We’ve published a consultation on our transparency strategy, put in place a governance structure for our transparency programme (including an internal transparency board) and developed the policy and reporting framework underpinning our ethics programme. For example, we’ve created a new anti-bribery policy.

We’ve established an external transparency challenge panel to provide an additional level of accountability. This is made up of experienced people from across the corporate world, and brings an objective view to our plans.

In 2013/14 we published our most popular category to date, delays explained (networkrail.co.uk/timetables-and-travel/delays-explained) which explains to people, in plain English, the challenges the network faces and what we are doing to overcome them.

To be a company respected for our openness, honesty and accessibility, setting the standard for transparency and ethics in the corporate sector.

Objective Performance against targetsVoluntary disclosure of information

New categories of information published in 2013/14

Actual

22 Target

20

Categories of information published since

we began our voluntary

disclosure scheme in June 2012

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Our approach Increased engagement for all employeesOur Code of Business Ethics sets out the principles and standards of business behaviour expected of all employees. It provides practical guidance on how to deal with situations that may arise in day-to-day activities and covers 22 topics ranging from conflicts of interest to gifts and hospitality and social media.

Employees can report concerns of unethical behaviour through the ethics email address or through our Speak Out (whistleblowing) service. Speak Out is managed by an independent third party (InTouch). Speak Out provides employees with the opportunity to report wrongdoing confidentially and anonymously, by phone or online, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. We are committed to increasing the number of calls to the Speak Out line. In 2012/2013, the average number of calls to the line was 11 per month. In 2013/014, the average number of calls to the line was 17 per month.

iEthics is our online register for employees to log offers of gifts and hospitality and conflicts of interest. We upgraded it in 2013. The number of registrations on iEthics has increased compared to this time in 2013/14 and the volume of enquiries has increased suggesting employees are more engaged with the subject than they have been previously.

In an employee survey in November 2013, 75 per cent of respondents responded positively to the question ‘I understand how Network Rail’s Code of Business Ethics applies to me in my day-to-day work.’ We recognise that whilst this is a positive result, there is more work to be done across the business.

On sites and projectsOver and above our Speak Out service, our infrastructure projects teams have whistleblowing mechanisms in place for employees, contractors and contingent labour working on our sites and projects (e.g. Thameslink). This enables people to report unethical behaviour, and as well as concerns around health and safety and impact on the environment.

Handling queries from the publicWe’ve worked to streamline how we handle requests for information. To improve our capability to respond to them in a prompt and helpful way, we’ve held internal events to promote our approach to transparency, explaining to our people what it means for them in their day to day work.

Throughout 2013-14, we worked to respond to requests for information within 20 working days. We received over 200 requests for information and answered 85% per cent of them in this timeframe.

We will build on this success in the course of 2014-15, and again when we become subject to the Freedom of Information Act in April 2015.

THE

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• Preparing to handle requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act

• Putting transparency at the heart of how we work, including continuing to improve and expand our proactive publication scheme

• Benchmarking our transparency and ethics work against other organisations, and learning from the best in areas like whistleblowing.

Case study

Open data and data feedsStarting in June 2012, we have made available a range of real time train running feeds from our operational systems. Consistent with the principles of the Government’s open data agenda, these have allowed a range of developers to build and improve websites and smart phone apps which show the public what’s happening on the network in real time and enable them to make more informed journey choices. We held a stakeholder event in December 2013 which helped us focus our plans for open data.

Our data feeds allow our industry, customers and communities to benefit from information shared and are being used in exciting and interesting initiatives. These include the Live Public Performance Measure web app, which presents real time network performance information and is used extensively in and outside the rail industry; raildar.co.uk which features live departure boards for every station on the network and an interactive train position map alongside a wider range of performance statistics; and the CityMapper app, which combines our timetable and running data with that of other transport providers to allow passengers to plan journeys and give them up to the minute travel information.

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Integrating sustainable development

We are building momentum across our business, amongst our industry partners and across our supply chain to deliver our sustainable development priorities. We are giving direction and focus to existing initiatives, developing new ones and joining up activity across our business and industry

Objectives

Why it mattersRail has long been recognised as more environmentally sustainable than other forms of transport, because the environmental impact of transporting goods and people by rail has and continues to be lower than by road and aviation. The connectivity created by the network is also critical to driving economic growth.

Whilst we deliver many sustainability outcomes very successfully, we recognise that some organisations outside the rail industry have been addressing certain issues more quickly than our sector, in part due to the greater attention their sustainability performance receives from governments and civil society. We are working with stakeholders and joining up activity across our business, to ensure we don’t fall behind and to succeed in delivering a railway fit for the future.

To focus our investment on enhancing the sustainability of the railway and design sustainability into everything we do.

To put in place the foundations to deliver

and maintain a sustainable business through our business functions

and routes.

To invest in our capacity and capability to make

us more sustainable and introduce innovative sustainable

technologies.

To communicate both the role rail plays in

making Great Britain more sustainable and the benefits of a more sustainable

approach to business.

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ProgressSustainable development integrated plan Stakeholders from across our business have worked together to plan the actions required to deliver the priorities outlined in our sustainable development strategy. This involved a through and detailed planning process, including specialist horizon scanning, business wide consultation, and facilitated workshops for each priority area. These have now been drawn together into our sustainable development integrated plan, which we have begun to implement.

Environmental management systemWe have developed a manual for our environmental management system (EMS) in conformance with the ISO 14001 standard. This EMS interfaces with all our key business units and supports functions to develop business unit specific EMSs. Our National Delivery Service (now a part of National Supply Chain) has an ISO 14001 certified EMS covering our procurement of and reprocessing of used key materials; Thameslink programme has achieved an ISO 14001 certified EMS and maintained certification; Infrastructure Projects is in the final stages of seeking certification for a function wide EMS; and our routes are each in the process of developing their own EMS in support of the organisation wide system.

Embedding sustainability within Infrastructure ProjectsMany of the supply chain arrangements for delivery of our Control Period 5 (2014–2019) spending commitments have been established in the last year following competitive tender processes. Our Central region developed a set of 10 social and environmental sustainability requirements, which, with the support of Business in the Community, were inserted into the tender and contract award processes for the establishment of their CP5 works frameworks. Contracts for up to £2.5bn of works are likely to be awarded off these frameworks. Our Wales and Western region have also used these sustainability requirements.

Business critical rulesWe are rationalising our existing, somewhat unwieldy framework of standards into a set of controls focused on better managing and mitigating key business risks. This will result in summarising our most significant controls within business critical rules, and will be supported by guidance, procedures and training to embed these across our business. Over the last year we have made substantial progress driving this programme, including developing and trialling the whole framework for our management of our track asset.

Measuring sustainability performanceOver the last year we have procured and implemented advanced software to enable us to better measure and monitor performance across our key sustainability areas. This system, CRedit 360 is now live in our business providing us the ability to track and analyse performance in a way that has not existed before.

Embedding sustainability into our buildings and civil structuresWe are using third party schemes to evaluate the sustainability performance of our infrastructure as we deign and build it. This enables us to benchmark our activities against those of our peers. We have set out a policy to always employ sustainable certification methodologies (e.g. CEEQUAL or BREEAM) on buildings and operational property projects that exceed £2m in value and use targets appropriate to the project in question.

CEEQUAL (Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment) is a sustainability assessment, rating and awards scheme for civil engineering. Examples of recent use are:

• The Borders Rail project, which involves reopening part of the former Waverley line from Edinburgh to Tweedbank; Whole Project Interim Excellent Award (87 per cent)

• The Stafford Area Improvement Programme; Interim Design and Client Excellent Award (97.4 per cent)

• Thameslink Programme; Whole Project Excellent Awards to Tanners Hill (77.7 per cent) and Borough Viaduct (88.9 per cent) and Interim Design Excellent Awards to Bermondsey Dive Under (96.3 per cent) and London Bridge (98.2 per cent). Thameslink is also our first project to apply the new CEEQUAL Term Contracts to a track and signalling project.

BREEAM (the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Model) is an environmental assessment method and rating system for buildings. Examples of recent use are:

• Birmingham New Street station; BREEAM very good rating for its design stage

• The lamp block building on Platform 1 at Birmingham New Street station; BREEAM excellent

• Wakefield Westgate Gateway Station; BREEAM excellent.

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AwardsNational Rail Awards 2013:• Thameslink Programme won the Environmental Excellence award• Our Cannon Street station was named Major Station of the Year• South West Trains and Network Rail won the Maintenance Team of the

Year award and Outstanding Teamwork award.

At the British Construction Awards 2013, the Best Practice Award was won by Thameslink’s Borough Viaduct and partners Network Rail, Atkins, Jestico & Whiles and Skanska UK Civil Engineering.

Our approachGovernanceWe’ve established a governance structure so that our board and executive committee take responsibility for the leadership and success of all our sustainable development priorities. Review and assurance on sustainability priorities is provided by the Safety, Heath and Environment (SHE) committee, which is a sub committee of the board. The board receives monthly SHE performance reports, approves the annual corporate safety and sustainable development audit programme and takes reports from the chair of the SHE committee.

The safety and sustainable development (S&SD) executive is the key decision making body for sustainability and reports into the executive committee. The S&SD executive is supported by the S&SD integration group, which integrates sustainability issues across the business, and a series of key working groups that lead and manage the agenda across a range of sustainability issues; for example, the environmental steering group and track worker safety group.

Risk managementOur corporate enterprise risk management (ERM) framework explains how we manage risk, including that related to sustainable development priorities. ERM is a comprehensive and integrated approach to managing risks at all levels of the business that have the potential to significantly impact the achievement of our key objectives. This year, we have increasingly used an objective centred ‘bow tie’ approach to risk management across our business.

Sustainable procurement and supply chain managementSustainable development priorities are included in the processes for procurement and contact award through the use a sustainable procurement toolkit (e.g. when establishing our supply chain, recently, for lifts and escalators). This is reinforced by a requirement that at least five per cent of total evaluation points are allocated to sustainability issues when tendering for infrastructure project works.

Sector workingWe are active members of a number of industry wide, sustainability forums:

• We participate in international, European and national rail industry groups, all of which address sustainability issues; the International Union of Railways, the European Rail Agency, the UK’s Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) and the UK’s Rail Industry Association (RIA), which represents UK-based railway suppliers to the world’s railways

• The RSSB has a sustainable rail programme. This is supported by a sustainable development steering group and supporting rail sustainable development group – we are active members of this programme. RIA has a sustainable development group (to which we contribute) but the organisation also plays an active role in our Infrastructure Projects commercial directors forum

• The Rail Delivery Group provides leadership to the UK rail industry to improve services to rail users and value for money for taxpayers. We currently have a staff member seconded to them

• Our former chief executive David Higgins chaired the development of the key UK Industry Strategy Construction 2025: Government and Industry in Partnership This maps a vision and action plan for achievement, by the UK construction industry, over the next decade, including a 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment. We remain part of the Construction Leadership Council to contribute to delivery of this strategy

• We have participated in the Green Construction Board’s infrastructure working group. The working group developed the Infrastructure Carbon Review, which sets out actions for the Government, clients and suppliers to reduce carbon from the construction and operation of the UK’s infrastructure assets, in line with the UK’s climate change commitments. The recommendations have the potential to reduce up to 24 million tonnes of carbon and save the UK £1.46bn a year by 2050. As part of the Review’s launch in November 2013, we signed a Statement of Endorsement which is published on the Green Construction Board’s website – www.greenconstructionboard.org

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Case study 2 Loughor

Viaduct, WalesLoughor Viaduct is a historic structure built in 1852. We and Carillion have undertaken a major project to replace

the viaduct, making it a double track for the first time in almost 30 years eliminating a bottleneck on the line

between Llanelli and Carmarthen. Particular care was required as the bridge is Grade II listed and located in or adjacent

to protected sites that host around 20,000 over-wintering birds each year.

The local ecological habitat was considered and protected, for example by using elevating barges instead of cofferdams to carry the piling

equipment and cranes to install the foundations. This enabled us to work continuously within the tidal environment, minimised disturbance to

the river bed and enabled works to be completed outside of the bird over-wintering period. We further managed our environmental impacts by:

• Using mains electricity instead of diesel generators to reduce noise and poor air quality

• Buying only responsibly sourced timber

• Recycling or reusing all of our waste materials on site or within the local community.


• Developing and reporting on a comprehensive range of sustainable development metrics and Key Performance Indicators that will be externally assured, using CRedit 360 to support this

• Fully implementing a Network Rail Environmental Management System in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard

• Finalising our integrated plan and publishing a summary of our commitments in the public domain

• Embedding sustainable development requirements that within the key processes and policies that underpin our investment in new infrastructure.

Case study 1 Stafford Area improvements programme Along the West Coast Main Line near Stafford lies the Norton Bridge, which has been a bottleneck for many years. With our partners Atkins, Laing O’Rourke, and VolkerRail we are undertaking a project to con-struct a flyover, 10km of new track, 12 new bridge structures, four river diversions and major environmental mitigation works. This will make journeys between London, the Midlands, North West and Scotland faster, more frequent and more reliable.

Sustainability considerations have been addressed at every stage of the design and construction of the scheme. Engagement and con-sultation with the local community and stakeholders is central to the project’s success. From an ecological point of view, benefits are incorporated into the design for the river diversions that increased the channel length and created new wetland areas and back waters that are suitable for nationally scarce invertebrates found on-site, thereby increasing the diversity and abundance of flora and fauna in the area.

Case study 3 Infrastructure Projects Commercial Directors Forum Sustainability Charter 44 members of Infrastructure Projects Commercial Directors Forum have signed a Sustainability Charter. This commits our teams, most significant contractors and partners to actively support, promote and aspire to advance standards on sustainability so that we deliver social, economic and environmental benefits through our works.

The forum intends to use the Charter to deliver on Infrastructure Projects commitment to work to the spirit of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012, although we do not come under the scope of that legislation.

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Independent Assurance Statement

Our scopeNetwork Rail commissioned DNV Two Tomorrows Limited (“DNV GL”) to undertake independent assurance of its 2014 Sustainability Update (the “Report”).The Report covers the financial year of 01 April 2013 to 31 March 2014. The assurance was provided in relation to selected data and claims within the Report in relation to the following sections:

• Natural Resources

• Land

• Energy and Carbon

• Employee engagement and development

• Climate Change Adaptation

These sections were selected by Network Rail as part of a rolling programme of assurance which retains a focus on certain critical topics whilst aiming to widen the scope of assurance across the sustainability update over time. Operating, performance and safety data is audited separately by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

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Our approachWe performed our work using DNV GL’s assurance methodology. This is based on our professional experience and international assurance best practice and standards, including reference to the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised) – ‘Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits and Reviews of Historical Financial Information’.

We are providing a ‘limited level’ of assurance. Our work focused on information held at corporate level and we did not conduct site visits to any of Network Rail’s operational locations.

We planned and performed our work to obtain the evidence we considered necessary to provide a basis for our assurance conclusions. This included selecting data and claims related to these data which we considered to be the most material to Network Rail’s stakeholders – limited to the five sections stated above.

Basis of our opinionA team of sustainability and assurance specialists performed work at Group level. Our assurance work included the following activities:

• Conducting interviews with seven members of Network Rail staff at Head Office, responsible for data and report narrative in relation to the five areas stated above. This was in order to gain an understanding of how these issues are managed and how data are aggregated at corporate level.

• Reviewing the data collection and consolidation processes used to compile annual data for the Report. This includes checking assumptions made, the data scope and boundaries.

• Sampling selected evidence to conduct checks of consolidated datasets against raw source data.

• Conducting a review of the 2013 Sustainability Report to ensure consistency with assured data.

Responsibilities of Network Rail and DNV GLNetwork Rail has sole responsibility for the preparation of the Report.

In performing our assurance work, our responsibility is to Network Rail; our statement represents our independent opinion and is intended to inform all stakeholders, including its management.

We were not involved in the preparation of any part of the 2014 Sustainability Update. However, having reviewed the report in relation to the data we have assured, in a number of instances changes were made to the final version.

We have not provided Network Rail with any other services during the reporting period.

Our conclusionsOn the basis of the work undertaken, nothing came to our attention to suggest that the data published in the Sustainability Update, within the scope of our work, is materially misstated.

We have seen evidence that Network Rail is demonstrating good practice in areas such as the ongoing work to incorporate embodied carbon and climate change adaptation into its decision-making processes and strategy. The smart meter programme is another example where Network Rail is improving the quality of its data by reducing reliance on estimates, and at the same time delivering cost savings. We have also seen evidence of improvements being made to employee related processes such as training and development and continued consultation.

This year’s report is a ‘Sustainability Update’ and is intended to provide an overview of performance and progress, especially via use of case studies. We recommend that as Network Rail continues to improve and revise its sustainability reporting and assurance processes, risks, material issues and stakeholder feedback should be analysed as part of a formalised process. The report should be more closely linked to performance against Network Rail’s Sustainability Strategy, “A Railway Fit for the Future, 2013 -2024’ and provide greater detail on the challenges it faces to address these areas.

Without affecting our assurance opinion, we make the following observations in relation to accuracy of data and associated narrative:

• We recommend that Network Rail formalises and documents the data management processes behind each reporting area and dataset, to ensure consistency year-on-year. This should include details of the reporting scope, and any assumptions, limitations and exclusions.

• Environmental information is currently sourced from a number of systems, with final datasets being manually calculated or collated. We understand that Network Rail is improving its environmental data management systems and that this will contribute to improved processes and a reduction in manual calculation.

• There is reliance upon the waste data provided by contractors, and this data contributes nearly all of Network Rail’s waste. The audit processes for these data are currently separate from the reporting process, and more overlap between the two would be beneficial. It is recommended that Network Rail increase its oversight and checking of these data in this area to ensure that contractor data is accurate and robust.

• Current employee performance management procedures are paper-based, making it difficult to obtain data and have complete oversight of how they are used. We understand that Network Rail plans to implement electronic systems in this area.

DNV Two Tomorrows Limited London, June 2014

Registered Office: Network Rail Limited Kings Place 90 York Way London N1 9AG

networkrail.co.uk

Company number: 04402220 Registered in England and Wales

Network Rail Sustainability Update 2014

Documents

Transcript of Network Rail Sustainability Update 2014