The CEO of Network Rail has received a knighthood in the annual New Year Honours list.

Andrew Haines OBE, 60, the chief executive of Network Rail, received a knighthood for his services to the transport sector and the economy.

Sir Andrew lives in Wantage and is in charge of the government’s transition team which will take the rail industry from a privatised model to one which is publicly run.

Before joining Network Rail in 2018 he headed up the Civil Aviation Authority for nine years.

He has also led the Great British Railways Transition Team which aims to improve and simplify train travel for passengers.

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NR will change, it will be a different beast by the end of CP6

Having dealt with him in a past life in a TOC/RT relationship I trust him to mean what he says.  Trouble is that the culture in NR has been entirely 'self centred' for the past 10 years or more, so its going to take a lot of sustained effort to achieve the goal he has set.  Don't forget that famous quote about NR: "An organisation entirely staffed by BULLSH*TTERS and ACCOUNTANTS".  (Personally, I exclude from that analysis those who work at the coalface, such as ET of this forum).

Don't forget that famous quote about NR: "An organisation entirely staffed by BULLSH*TTERS and ACCOUNTANTS".  (Personally, I exclude from that analysis those who work at the coalface, such as ET of this forum).

Is this some of the stuff you mean / a good start? ... from Rail Technology Magazine

....mmm.  I'll reserve judgement for the moment.  Having worked for NR for 7 years in the past, I really think he needs to get a grip on the current culture in the organisation (one that neglects its basic remit to maintain the railway and instead likes to focus on the 'shiny new things')

The new chief executive of Network Rail Andrew Haines has told MPs he will put “passenger’s interests front and centre” following “seven sustained years of decline in performance.”

[snip]
“So, my commitment is to make sure passengers’ interests are front and centre of Network Rails’ agenda for every single one of our employees.”

Really pleased to see Andrew Haines return to the railways.

Got a tough job on his hands but if anyone can he’s the one. After all he sorted out the mess at FGW all those years ago.

Network Rail has announced that Andrew Haines will be its new chief executive – and be paid 27% less than his predecessor to run Britain’s rail infrastructure.

Haines, the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority, will be paid £588,000 including benefits, with a possible 9% bonus, when he takes over in the autumn following a short handover period with retiring boss Mark Carne.

Haines arrives with a reputation for cost-cutting and transformation during his eight-year stint at the CAA, which earned him warm praise from the transport secretary, Chris Grayling. He said Haines had “done an outstanding job at the CAA”.

But he angered many within the organisation, who warned that its safety functions were being impaired as senior staff were made redundant and average salaries were slashed. A leaked internal report obtained by the Guardian last year showed inspectors under Haines believed they no longer had sufficient resources to do the job properly.

The CAA boss started his career in rail, as a left luggage clerk at London Victoria station, and later had stints as managing director at South West Trains then First Group’s rail division. He is sits on the board of rolling stock leasing company Eversholt Rail UK, a post he will resign on joining Network Rail.

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As has been reported, Mark Carne is to leave his role as Chief Executive of Network Rail in the autumn.

His replacement has been announced by Network Rail today. A name well known in these parts ... [snip]  Andrew Haines.

Engine makers 'may have ended ash flight ban sooner'

Some engine manufacturers blocked an early lifting of the volcanic ash flying ban, the BBC has learned.

An e-mail given to the BBC as a result of a Freedom of Information Request shows that some manufacturers saw "nothing to gain" from lifting the ban.

The BBC has also been told that Air France KLM will now fully compensate stranded travellers. The airline had previously refused to do so, but will now comply with its obligations under EU law.

It was six months ago that volcanic ash sent the UK back in time. The eruption of the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajoekull, caused UK airspace to be shut down for six days.

The regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) estimates about 33,000 flights were cancelled. The advice for airlines and aviation authorities at the time for ash was to "avoid, avoid, avoid". There were no rules set as to what level of ash was safe to fly through.

This policy worked in other parts of the world where planes could simply fly around the affected airspace, but caused severe problems for the UK, where airspace is much more congested.

Crucial to lifting the flying ban was getting agreement with engine manufacturers as to what their engines could safely tolerate. Ash can melt inside jet engines, clog the turbine blades and cause the engine to stall.

And an e-mail given to the BBC as a result of a Freedom of Information Request says: "Engine manufacturers met last night in the USA and declined to accept that their products could operate... We believe that a number of manufacturers... were supportive of the position but others saw 'nothing to gain'."

The e-mail goes on to say that if engine manufacturers had accepted the deal, all airspace could be opened.

"It did take time to get them [engine manufacturers] to understand why the particular circumstances facing Europe were unprecedented and why we needed movement from them," said the chief executive of the CAA, Andrew Haines.

However, six months on, airlines still believe the regulator could have done better. They argue the CAA should have given them more freedom to decide whether it was safe to fly, using their own experiences and judgement.

"It just became increasingly frustrating as the days went on," said Steve Ridgway, the chief executive of Virgin Atlantic. His airline lost ^30m in the crisis and saw 43,000 customers stranded. "We started to just not believe the data that was coming out of the Met Office. Airlines were putting up aircraft on test flights... they weren't finding any ash. And it was that speed of response which became so frustrating."

The CAA though argues it had to put safety first and could not lift the ban until it had agreement with engine manufacturers.

"What no airline was able to do was present us with data from their engine manufacturers - who are the experts here - which said it's safe to fly in these conditions," said Andrew Haines. "If someone had been able to do that then we wouldn't have had this issue. But not a single airline was able to do that right the way across Europe."

There is some good news for travellers though.

One airline - the giant Air France / KLM - had been refusing to comply with its obligations under EU law to reimburse passengers for reasonable costs incurred whilst stranded.

But the CAA has told the BBC that it has just secured agreement from the airline to pay out in full.

Airline watchdog says industry must take share of blame for ash crisis

CAA chief executive Andrew Haines says commercial pressures and over-cautious international rules led to shutdown of UK airspace

If it is any consolation to Andrew Haines at least he is used to being blamed for everything. The chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority was shoved back in the spotlight recently as "The Man Who Shut the Skies" or, more prosaically, as the head of Britain's air watchdog who presided over the closure of UK airspace for six days last month on safety grounds following the eruption of the Eyjafjallaj^kull volcano in Iceland.

Haines has been here before: he was the boss of First Great Western, the London-to-Wales rail franchise, when it was re-christened Worst Great Western throughout 2007 and 2008. Back then he could at least rely on the tacit support of the government, which declined to strip the contract from FGW's owner, FirstGroup, despite a passenger revolt caused by overcrowding and repeated service cancellations.

This time around, no one appeared to lend moral support as hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers waited for the CAA to rewrite years-old safety guidelines in an unprecedented 96-hour rush of tests and consultations.

Willie Walsh, the British Airways chief executive, said the prolonged ban was "scandalous", while Lord Adonis, then transport secretary, said safety regulators had been "too cautious". Under the new guidelines for flying through ash clouds, large areas of Europe that were no-go zones for nearly a week suddenly became safe for commercial aircraft. Having lost an estimated ^2.1bn, the aviation industry is screaming accusations of incompetence and demanding compensation.

Haines, who joined the CAA last year, admits the FGW experience helped when he picked up the Evening Standard the day after the ban was lifted ^ 21 April ^ and read the claim that he had personally shut down Britain's airports for nearly a week. "I think second time around is never quite as bad," he says. "But when you have had two or three hours' sleep per night for six days and it's your birthday, and you have bust a gut to do the right thing ... "

Former colleagues of the 46-year-old Welshman testify to his calmness under pressure and pragmatism. He immediately disowned a pledge from his FGW predecessor to turn the franchise from the worst into the best-performing rail service in Britain because "business transformation does not happen overnight". Two years on, FGW now beats the national average for train punctuality.
A former FirstGroup colleague describes Haines as a "relaxed and informal" executive who threw himself into rescuing FGW. "He worked incredibly long days to turn it around. He is level-headed and calm, so he always makes decisions based on evidence. We never saw him lose it," said the ex-colleague.

Haines's response to the latest furore is one of mild incredulity. Sitting in his office at the CAA's central London headquarters, he says that the industry he regulates should take more responsibility for what happened. "To blame the regulator is a fantastic piece of buck-passing." And as for Walsh, a fellow straight-talker: "He said it was his personal belief [that airspace should not have been shut]. You cannot establish safety rules on people's personal beliefs." However, Adonis's comments were more supportive than they first appeared, adds Haines. "He was saying that international regulations were over-cautious and I agree."

At this point Haines produces the piece of yellow paper that stranded thousands of Britons in Mumbai and other airports around the globe. It is the safety guideline for flying through volcanic ash, as set down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a branch of the United Nations that sets global aviation standards. The smoke plume from the volcano contained a mixture of glass and rock that, if sucked into engines, had the potential to melt inside their turbines, stall passenger jets and plunge them into the ground. So when an ash cloud drifts across northern Europe, what should airlines do? The CAA and its European co-regulators turned to the ICAO guidelines, which stated, in capital letters just to emphasise things: "AVOID AVOID AVOID." Those three words are the reason why Europe was shut for six days ^ if there is the slightest presence of ash in the skies, airspace must be shut.

"That guidance had been in place for a number of years and we had to rapidly come up with a safe level of ash contamination," he says. The new guidelines, which permit flying in all but the most contaminated air corridors, were drawn up after aircraft manufacturers and engine maker Rolls-Royce were persuaded to conduct a series of tests, because it was their original guidance that created the blanket "AVOID" rule.

Haines says: "In truth there were commercial issues wrapped up with safety issues. We know that at extreme levels, ash contamination has been a serious safety issue. We know that the levels of contamination we faced were a long way from those levels of contamination. I can only speculate why airlines and manufacturers were unable to find the right levels." Some observers believe there was concern over liabilities for engine and aircraft damage, a theory underlined by industry papers that showed airlines were reluctant to contribute to discussions about setting new guidelines for flying through ash clouds as recently as two years ago.
Despite Haines's clear inference that the airspace closures were largely a crisis of the aviation industry's own making, he singles out one industry player for praise. "Rolls-Royce were fantastic. When they saw the issue they came to the fore. Without them we would not have got much of a resolution."

There is some sympathy for airlines that face multimillion-pound accommodation and food costs under the EU261 guideline that orders carriers to look after customers whose flights are delayed or cancelled. (As well as presiding over safety, and setting landing fees at London's main airports, the CAA oversees the implementation of the guideline.) The EU framework did not anticipate a geological phenomenon and has saddled the industry with a hefty bill. Even Ryanair, always keen to duck a cost when it can, has grudgingly acknowledged that it will have to pay up.

The EU is reviewing the rule and Haines is sympathetic to industry concerns because it forces an airline, which might have been paid ^50 for a return fare, to pay hundreds of pounds in hotel costs. "It is so clearly out of kilter when you compare the cost to the operator with the benefit to the consumer. That makes it very difficult to enforce."

Haines adds that unifying European air traffic control is "not a panacea" because the new ash guidelines were drawn up by the CAA, not a pan-European regulator. Indeed, if anything rankles with Haines it is that the CAA has not been given enough credit for pushing through a new safety regime in a number of days. He welcomes calls for an inquiry, but with the view to bolstering the new safety set-up because the ash crisis is far from over. Within days of the interview the volcano spits a huge cloud into the middle of the Atlantic again causing hundreds of cancellations.

Asked how he coped with the responsibility of getting thousands of Britons back to their homes, he says: "It genuinely didn't feel like stress. It felt like there was a problem here and there was no easy solution to it, but I had the conviction that we were trying to do the right thing. I didn't break down in tears or tear my hair out, or throw anything at people." Perhaps the stress of FGW was worth it after all, but buck-passers beware..

The CV

Age 46
Education Cyfarthfa high school, Merthyr Tydfil; King's College London; Kingston University.

Career

1985 British Rail graduate manager. 1994 Joined Railtrack as an account manager in London and the south-east. 1997 Joined South West Trains as general manager, becoming operations director in 1999 and then managing director in 2000.

July 2005 Joined FirstGroup as managing director, UK rail division.

2009 Joined Civil Aviation Authority as chief executive.

Interests Architecture, film, literature and gardening.

Family Married to Caroline with two children, Alexandra and William.

Volcano ash flight ban 'might have ended sooner'

The suspension of UK flights after the volcanic eruption in Iceland might have ended sooner, the BBC has been told.
Flights resumed when manufacturers gave assurances six days after the eruption, which disrupted the plans of hundreds of thousands of people last month.
If airline engine manufacturers had specified a safe level of ash earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority says it could have reopened the skies earlier.
All aircraft engine makers contacted by the BBC declined to comment.
Ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano triggered a shutdown of European airspace, paralysing many airports and stranding hundreds of thousands of tourists and business travellers.
The flight ban was imposed because ash can turn to molten glass in the high temperatures of an aircraft's turbine and cripple the engine.
CAA chief executive Andrew Haines told Radio 4's The Report: "The critical path for this decision was the time it took for the manufacturers to satisfy themselves on the safe level of contamination. How long does it take for a manufacturer who has declined to determine something for many years to actually say, 'Given the evidence we've now got, we're happy to nail our colours to the mast and say that these are safe levels of contamination that don't present a hazard.'"
He said: "I suspect that manufacturers knew much of this, that they knew there was an acceptable level of safety but what hadn't happened is that they were prepared to underwrite that and validate it."
Mr Haines continued: "I suspect that a lot of these things come down to a combination of commercial and safety pressures and actually there are levels of contamination which might impact on the life of the engine without impacting on its safety. But that's only a speculation on my part.... I'm just grateful that they came to the table and worked very hard to get it resolved. If we'd had the assurances from manufacturers that we have now at the start of this crisis, the response would have been different."
Ongoing discussions about the safe level of volcanic ash to fly in had already been taking place between air regulators and the air industry, according to Richard Deakin, chief executive of the National Air Traffic Control Services (NATS). "There had been a meeting of the volcanic ash advisory group with aero engine manufacturers in March of this year, so literally a few weeks before events unfolded," he said.
The question of what might be a safe level has been widely discussed across the industry for many years.
In 1982 a BA jumbo jet flew right into a plume of ash from an Indonesian volcano and all four engines stalled, although they were eventually restarted.
The normal procedure when planes encounter ash is to fly round it, meaning that manufacturers have not had to specify "safe" levels. But the size and location of the ash cloud produced by Eyjafjallajokull, meant it was impossible to fly round it.
The government has also been criticised for its lack of leadership in the crisis.
Tim Jeans, managing director of Monarch Airlines, told The Report: "The government was not in control and I hope it will never pretend otherwise. There was no leadership demonstrated, nor has there been other than they understood there was a potential political problem brewing."
A Department for Transport spokesperson responded: "The government assumed clear and decisive control over events from the early stages of the ash crisis - it is wrong to suggest otherwise. The decision to restrict airspace was made in line with long-standing international guidelines and information from aircraft manufacturers that any volcanic ash could pose a danger to aircraft. The whole of Europe was in the same position, acting according to the same aviation safety rules."
The Report will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4, on Monday 3 May at 2030 BST. You can listen again via the BBC iPlayer or download the podcast.

RAF Typhoon jets back in skies after ash concerns

Typhoon jet flights from an RAF base in Lincolnshire have resumed after training flights were suspended.
The fleet was grounded after volcanic ash deposits were found in the engines of four aircraft.
The Ministry of Defence said that all 11 planes were checked and no problems were reported.
The first Typhoon to take to the air, from the home base at RAF Coningsby since the grounding was the display aircraft, at 0800 BST on Friday.

Falling ice damages roof of Bristol house

....."If the person it happens to has an accurate time of when it happened we will check the air traffic control radar to see what aircraft were in the area, otherwise it's a wild goose chase," the spokesman said......

Erm, isn't that the point? The way I read the article, the CAA is saying that you should not compare military and civil jets in this context, and that the ash deposits in military aircraft are therefore not indicative of a risk to civil airliners...

So blame ice

Falling ice damages roof of Bristol house

A lump of ice has left a football-sized hole in the roof of a Bristol house after it fell from the sky.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it was likely the ice came from water leaking from an aircraft.
It is not the first time ice falling from the sky has damaged property in Bristol.
The roof and guttering of a house four miles away in Downend were damaged in July last year. And the same month a lump of falling ice fell just feet from a man sitting in Stoke Park, near the M32. Similar incidents have happened in Stoke Bishop and Staple Hill.
A spokesman for the CAA said: "We get 20 to 30 of these incidents reported to us a year in the whole of the UK. It's quite rare when you consider there are 3 million movements in UK airspace a year."
He said water leaking from an aircraft turns to ice at high altitudes which falls off as the plane descends into warmer air.
"If the person it happens to has an accurate time of when it happened we will check the air traffic control radar to see what aircraft were in the area, otherwise it's a wild goose chase," the spokesman said.
"There will probably be a handful of aircraft in an area at any time, but we can write to the operators asking them to check their aircraft."
Even if the aircraft is found, any damage caused by the ice will need to be paid for by the home owner's household insurance.

Most civil engines are totally different to military types. Civil engines tend to be high-bypass ratio engines, this means that much of the air (and ash) doesn't actually go through the really hot bit of the engine.
So comparing military high performance jets with civil airliners is really a bit of a joke !!

From the BBC:

As someone caught at the sharp end of this, I would have much rather endured what we did for 5 days than be put at risk (probably without even being told about the risk) if the aviation industry had kept on flying.

RAF Typhoon training halted as ash found in engines

Training flights on RAF Typhoons in Lincolnshire have been suspended after ash deposits were found in the engines of four aircraft.
The fleet is being checked at its base in Coningsby, Lincolnshire.
An RAF spokesman said the Typhoons were "very high performance jets" so staff were "just being extra cautious".
According to the BBC's Richard Scott, the Civil Aviation Authority has pointed out that military planes fly much faster and suck in far more air than their civilian counterparts.
It says the work done with manufacturers to clear the UK for flying again did not factor in military jets, which are "a whole different world".
The CAA also says conclusions should not be drawn from the RAF's statement about the air-worthiness of civilian aircraft.
It adds that the all-clear for civilian aircraft to return to the skies still stands and there have been no reports of any ash damage.
Almost all flights across Europe are expected to go ahead on Thursday.

As far as I am concerned Andrew Haines is a genuinely nice person, he did good things for First..

...It's a shame the Evening Standard looks intent on making him look bad by saying he was in charge of FGW when it got the name Worst Great Western, despite the fact it was known as that before he came in...

Though it kind of tells us what we all thought about the reasons for his departure having less to do with his health and more to do with whether his face still fitted.

Ollie doesn't like this kind of speculation about somebodies well being, I just don't think it's appropriate to put rumours on a public forum like this,

Mr Haines said his departure was a personal decision.

"We have made real progress in service delivery at First Great Western and I am confident that the team in place there will continue to make further improvements," he said.

"Having effectively performed two parallel, demanding roles now for some time, I have decided to take some time away from work to consider the best direction for my future career.

"This is entirely my own decision and I am grateful for the support and encouragement of the First Group board during my time with the company."

Indeed. Huge improvements in the year or so he was in charge. Can't help but think he's left before fully completing the transformation though, and wonder whether his recent sickness has caused this decision as it does seem a bit odd?

Still, it was always the intention to hand over the reins to Mark Hopwood, who's no stranger to being top-dog having performed similar roles at c2c amongst others. Mark's a clever chap - having worked quite closely with him during his early career at Thames Trains in the mid-90's, I can certainly vouch for his determination and abilities. It will be a testing time for him though as filling Andrew's boots will be no mean feat.

if rumour is to be believed then mr haines has had a nervous breakdown and is not going to be returning to FGW,the same source also said his replacement is from scotrail although i cannot remember her name.

as i said just depot rumour so watch this space i suppose

First ScotRail managing director Mary Grant has become acting MD of FirstGroup^s UK rail division due to the ill health of Andrew Haines.

Mr Haines is also chief executive officer of First Great Western, taking over from Alison Forster in September last year at a time when the franchise was beset by performance problems.

During the temporary situation the day-to-day running of FGW has been taken over by acting managing director Mark Hopwood, the performance director for FGW who joined the company after being MD of London Lines.

Steve Montgomery, director of operations and safety for ScotRail, has assumed the position of acting managing director.

Mary Grant has been MD of ScotRail for four years, during which she has won a number of major rail and Scottish business awards.

A spokeswoman for FGW said: ^Andrew is on sick leave at the moment so there have been some changes for the time being.^

Oops.. Yes sorry I did mean to write he'd done a marvellous job for Maidenhead to Paddington, as that is the only experience of FGW I have.. I do hope he'll improve the TransWilts service significantly too...

Jo, I agree with you over the vast majority of the area.

Just one service that he has NOT yet sorted out - the TransWilts - which connects the five largest towns in Wiltshire with a service that remains not fit for purpose (if you believe that the purpose is carrying passengers when they want to travel rather than meeting the DfT's daft specification).

2 years on, and a service that had been growing dramatically and where the trains were "nesting" (Nearly Every Seat Taken) in the peaks remains reduced to a "marginal time only" service - marginal time being the provision of trains when they're not needed on other lines (and, frankly, there's not much call for them in Wiltshire either).

Pilning too still remains 80% cut (a fifth of its former train service) but it's a small village compared to the TransWilts towns of Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster and Salisbury ... which are set to grow 50% in the next 20 years and goodness only knows how the roads will cope.  I flew back into Heathrow on Friday, and found myself using National Express (actually a First group coach with every seat taken, heaters jammed on, windows sealed, no aircon!) to Chippenham and a Taxi - pretty horrid after an 8 hour flight.  We know that in these parts at least, between 8 and 10 people will use the train for every ione who uses the bus.

So - congratulations so far Andrew.   You've shown us what you can do in so many places - now please do it for us in Wiltshire where we have the area that's projected to grow the fastest in the whole South West

I think Andrew Haines has done a marvellous job.. I've gone from arriving in Paddington late (sometimes very late) practically every single day, to arriving on time nearly all the time.. The timetable is also a lot better than it was when FGW first changed it..  Although there are still a couple of gaps in the timetable for Maidenhead, I'd much rather it is left as it is as we know that it works!! 

We finished the period with a PPM of 91.2%.

FGWs target PPM is 86.2%.

Things are improving day-by-day.

Although this weeks PPM will be shot (through no fault of FGW!!) because of yesterday evenings rush-hour Severn Tunnel farce.