Is Britains rail network in financial crisis?
No more than usual. Network Rail has, it is true, slumped from a 295m profit last year to an equivalent-sized loss in 2003. It has also seen its debts increase by almost 50%, to more than 9bn. But from most people’s point of view, this is cheering news. Much of the increasing burden of expenses on Network Rail has come from greater spending on its track network; modernisation investment rose by one-third, to 1.2bn. Amid widespread concern over the quality of Britain’s rails – the cause of frequent delay and even, perhaps, of accidents – it would be rather shameful if Network Rail were not spending money fast. These latest financial results are presented with an air of cautious optimism: rail network safety, the chief concern of many since a series of crashes in the past couple of years, is already starting to improve. So are things looking up? Perhaps – but very, very slowly. Network Rail’s optimism is hedged about with endless caveats. Some indicators of safety – broken rails, for exa
