rail . network rail limited type arms length public body 1 industry european rail infrastructure managers founded 2002 2002 headquarters london united kingdom key people sir peter hendy chairman mark carne chief executive 2 products public transport revenue 6.2 billion 2013 3 owner hm government department for transport number of employees 34 000 4 website www.networkrail.co.uk network rail is the owner via its subsidiary network rail infrastructure ltd which was known as railtrack plc before 2003 5 and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in england scotland and wales . 6 network rail is an arms length public body of the department for transport with no shareholders which reinvests its income in the railways . network rail s main customers are the private train operating companies tocs responsible for passenger transport and freight operating companies focs who provide train services on the infrastructure that the company owns and maintains . since 1 september 2014 network rail has been classified as a public sector body . 7 to cope with quickly rising passenger numbers network rail is currently undertaking a 38 billion programme of upgrades to the network including crossrail electrification of lines upgrading thameslink and a new high speed line hs2 . contents 1 history 1.1 pre 2002 1.2 2002 onwards 2 responsibilities 3 assets 3.1 infrastructure 3.2 stations 3.3 training facilities 3.4 telecoms assets 3.5 rolling stock 3.6 possible asset sales 4 development 4.1 current investment programme 4.2 the grip process 4.3 control periods 4.4 route plans 4.5 electricity 5 governance structure and accountability 5.1 formal governance structure 5.2 monitoring network rail s performance 5.3 informal governance groups 5.3.1 railway industry planning group ripg 6 directors 7 controversies 7.1 safety 7.2 private versus public sector status 7.3 allegations of misuse of public funds and discrimination 7.4 knighthood of john armitt 7.5 flying scotsman cancellation 8 national centre 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit pre 2002 edit see also railtrack and british rail britain s railway system was built by private companies but it was nationalised by the transport act 1947 and run by british railways until re privatisation in the 1990s . infrastructure and passenger and freight services were separated at that time . between 1994 and 2002 the infrastructure was owned and operated by railtrack . the hatfield train crash on 17 october 2000 was a defining moment in the collapse of railtrack . 8 the immediate major repairs undertaken across the whole british rail network were estimated to have cost in the order of 580 million and railtrack had no idea how many more hatfields were waiting to happen because it had lost considerable in house engineering skill following the sale or closure of many of the engineering and maintenance functions of british rail to external companies ; nor did the company have any way of assessing the consequence of the speed restrictions it was ordering which all but brought the railway network to a standstill . 9 the costs of modernising the west coast main line were also spiralling . 10 in 2001 railtrack announced that despite making a pre tax profits before exceptional expenses of 199m the 733m of costs and compensation paid out over the hatfield crash had plunged railtrack from profit into a loss of 534m 11 and it approached the government for funding which it then used to pay a 137m dividend to its shareholders in may 2001 . 12 network rail ltd. took over control by buying railtrack plc which was in railway administration from railtrack group plc for 500 million ; railtrack plc was then renamed and reconstituted as network rail infrastructure ltd. the purchase was completed on 3 october 2002 . 13 the former company had thus never ceased to exist but continued under another name for this reason network rail infrastructure ltd was the defendant in later prosecutions in respect of events which had occurred in the days of railtrack . 2002 onwards edit uk rail subsidy 1985 2015 showing the huge increase after the hatfield crash following an initial period in which network rail established itself and demonstrated its competence in addressing the principal challenges of improving asset condition reducing unit costs and tackling delay the government s rail review in 2004 said that network rail should be given responsibility for whole industry performance reporting timetable development specification of small and medium network enhancements and the delivery of route specific utilisation strategies rus . 14 some of these are functions which network rail already had ; others such as the obligation to devise route utilisation strategies were transferred to network rail from the strategic rail authority a non departmental public body part of the uk government . the sra was abolished in november 2006 . 15 the company moved its headquarters to kings place 90 york way from 40 melton street euston in august 2008 . in october 2008 sir ian mcallister announced that he would not stand for re election as chairman of network rail . he had held the position for six years . he noted that as network rail moved to a new phase in its development it was appropriate for a new chairman to lead it there . 16 many track safety initiatives have been introduced in the time network rail has been responsible for this area . the latest announced in december 2008 known as all orange states that all track personnel must not only wear orange hi vis waistcoats or jackets but must also wear orange hi vis trousers at all times when working on or near the track . this ruling came into force in january 2009 for maintenance and property workers and in april 2009 for infrastructure and investment sites . 17 in 2011 the company began the process of reorganising its operational structure into nine semi autonomous regional entities each with their own managing director ; the first two units to be created were scotland and wessex regions . 18 19 the re organisation has been interpreted as a move back towards vertical integration of track and train operations . 20 responsibilities edit sign showing the network rail name on the signal box at ledbury network rail owns the infrastructure including the railway tracks signals overhead wires tunnels bridges level crossings and most stations but not the passenger or commercial freight rolling stock . it however owns a fleet of departmental stock . although it owns over 2 500 railway stations it manages only 18 of the biggest and busiest of them all the other stations being managed by one or other of the various train operating companies tocs . 21 network rail had a 15 year lease on square one in manchester with 800 staff in one of manchester s largest refurbished office spaces . 22 network rail should not be confused with national rail . national rail is not an organisation but merely a brand used to explain and promote a great britain wide network of passenger railway services . the majority of network rail lines also carry freight traffic ; some lines are freight only . a few lines that carry passenger traffic are not part of the national rail network for example high speed 1 heathrow express tyne and wear metro the tyne and wear metro uses network rail track between pelaw and sunderland and is responsible for that and the london underground . conversely a few national rail services operate over track that is not part of the network rail network . for example chiltern railways services run on track owned by london underground between harrow on the hill and amersham . the current chairman is sir peter hendy and mark carne is currently appointed as the chief executive . 2 assets edit infrastructure edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message network rail depot at norwood junction station croydon unimog bucket truck high pressure water jets clearing leaves at taunton network rail covers 20 000 miles of track and 40 000 bridges and tunnels . 23 in october 2003 network rail announced that it would take over all infrastructure maintenance work from private contractors following concerns about the quality of work carried out by certain private firms and spiralling costs . february 2004 saw the opening of an operations centre at waterloo station in london operated jointly by network rail and south west trains . this was the first full collaboration of its kind since privatisation and it is regarded as a model for other areas of the network with a further six integrated network rail toc control centres having opened since then at blackfriars croydon leading control for thameslink swindon birmingham new street glasgow and most recently liverpool street and south wales based in cardiff canton . track renewal the ongoing modernisation of the railway network by replacing track and signalling continues to be carried out by private engineering firms under contract . the biggest renewals project include the multibillion pound upgrade of the london glasgow west coast main line which was completed in 2008 the thameslink programme to upgrade the north south railway through london and work on the part of crossrail which is operated by network rail . network rail initially sub contracted much of the work and the site to private infrastructure maintenance companies such as carillion and first engineering . other sub contractors are used on site for specialist work or additional labour . these include prima services group sky blue balfour beatty laboursite bcl atkins atkins rail and mcginleys . since 2003 network rail has been building up significant in house engineering skills including funding of apprenticeship and foundation degree schemes . network rail reports significant savings resulting from the initial transfers of work away from contracting companies . additional contracts were taken back by network rail after the serious accident at potters bar and other accidents at rotherham and king s cross led jarvis to pull out of the track repair business . shortly after this and due to other failures by maintenance companies network rail took control of many more maintenance duties . telecomms maintenance came full circle in april 2009 with the bringing in house of the staff of thales telecom services ltd formerly british rail telecommunications brt . in 2006 network rail made public a high tech plan to combat the effects of slippery rail . this plan involves the use of satellites for tracking trouble areas water jetting trains and crews using railhead scrubbers sand sticks and a substance called natrusolve which dissolves leaf mulch . 24 all workers working on near or trackside have to undergo a personal track safety assessment re assessed every two years network rail workers undergo an assessment every year as part of aitl assessment in the line . the aitl requires each worker to go through questions on a computer based program on all the competencies held . in 2007 it was announced that the number of track renewal contractors will be reduced to four from the current six . these are now amey seco balfour beatty babcock first engineering and jarvis plc. 25 jarvis plc has since gone into administration with the bulk of its work commitments being picked up by babcock . stations edit network rail owns more than 2 500 railway stations divided into six categories . management and operation of most of them is carried out mostly by the principal train operating company serving that station ; however in a few cases the train operating company does not serve the station . for example hinckley is served by crosscountry but it is managed by east midlands trains . as of august 2016 network rail manages 19 stations directly . 21 26 the stations network rail operate are national birmingham new street bristol temple