Network Rail to flex muscles on plant hire

Rail unions have warned of redundancies and tighter revenues for contractors supplying Network Rail (NR) with maintenance plant.
The warning by the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union follows NR's policy to continue to contract out multi-million-pound, short-term plant hire deals to the existing maintenance contractors, despite the rail operator's decision last year to bring all its maintenance contracts in-house.
The RMT says contractors are now facing tough competition and rapidly reducing revenues as NR looks to play
companies off against each other to get efficiency savings - possibly in the form of reverse auctions that the rail operator has been using to select its
welding contractors.
"With NR's regional focus it can go to any contractor to find the best plant deal for equipment such as ballast cleaners and tampers," said one senior RMT source.
"Contractors aren't geared up for this move as they are very much rooted to pocket areas across the country such as First Engineering in Scotland and Amec in the South.
"Contractors with a stronghold contract in one area will have the rug pulled from under them as Network Rail goes for a cheaper option, possibly hundreds of miles away, to reach its cost savings targets."
He added: "That will result in companies losing out on business and trimming their plant operative numbers, possibly by thousands, to cater for the loss of work. Contractors such as Jarvis, which have millions of pounds-worth of kit, may have to come out of the market altogether or to refocus
their business."
NR refused to comment on how many new and existing
plant hire contracts it had with its previous maintenance
contractors.
And when CJ asked the value and longevity of the contracts, it was told that the information was "commercially sensitive".
Commenting on the RMT's concerns, an NR spokeswoman said: "We want to get the best value from these contracts for the rail network. There are certain agreements in place with previous maintenance contractors to provide maintenance plant.
"However, these will be reviewed along with other agreements. Our main focus at the moment is to complete the transfer of the final maintenance contracts."