Mark Carne

Mark Carne CBE is a British businessman who served as executive vice-president for Royal Dutch Shell in the Middle East and North Africa and was chief executive of Network Rail, the government company responsible for Britain's railway infrastructure.

Not to be confused with Mark Carney.

Mark Carne

CBE
Born
Helensburgh, Scotland
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Exeter
OccupationBusinessman
EmployerNetwork Rail
TitleChief Executive
TermApril 2014 – September 2018
PredecessorSir David Higgins

Early life and education

Carne was born in Helensburgh in Scotland. He holds a BSc in Engineering Science from the University of Exeter and a Chartered Diploma in Accounting and Finance from the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology.[1][2][3]

Career

Carne began his career at Royal Dutch Shell. Early in his career he oversaw the company's response to the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster, which was a formative experience and which made safety a theme of his leadership style. After rising to oversee the company's operation in the North Sea he became managing director of Brunei Shell Petroleum (a Shell subsidiary). After 21 years, he moved to BG Group, where he became BG's managing director for Europe and Central Asia. Moving back to Shell, he became executive vice-president for the Middle East and North Africa, right through the Arab Spring years. In 2013 he was appointed Chief Executive of Network Rail, which owns and operates the rail infrastructure in Great Britain.[4][5][1]

Network Rail

Carne was appointed chief executive of Network Rail in September 2013, and joined the company in January 2014. He succeeded Sir David Higgins—who moved to High Speed 2 as Chairman—in February 2014, having taken control earlier than planned to oversee the repairs in the aftermath of severe winter storms.[1][2][6] Carne's salary on appointment was £675,000—an increase on Higgins', though the overall remuneration package was smaller—which prompted criticism from unions, including the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (one of the main unions for Network Rail staff), ASLEF (the train drivers' union) and the RMT.[5][1][7] Network Rail stated that the salary "was determined following an exhaustive and independent process which compared the salaries of chief executives in both the public and private sectors given Network Rail's unique position as a not-for-dividend, independent company".[8] In an interview, Carne stated that his immediate focus would be on "safety, reliability, capacity, and cost", while also attempting to reduce spending.[9]

Shortly after his appointment, Network Rail was reclassified as a public body in September 2014, which put the Company's debt of £34 billion on the Government balance sheet.[10] This fundamental change meant that Network Rail could no longer borrow additional money to pay for cost increases as the scope of infrastructure projects matured, which had been the process assumed in the Regulatory structure.[11] As a result, cost increases in one project, led to others being controversially postponed or cancelled.[12] This led to National Audit Office (NAO) reports and Carne being questioned by the Public Accounts Committee who concluded that "The 2014–2019 rail investment programme could not have been delivered within the budget which the Department, Network Rail and the Office of Rail and Road agreed"[13] The investment programme was then replanned on the basis of available funds and realistic cost estimates.[14] To also partially resolve the funding crisis, Carne proposed selling Network Rail's commercial estate, which was completed in September 2018 for £1.46 billion.[15]

Carne reformed many aspects of Network Rail, devolving power to geographic route businesses, aligning incentives with Train Operating Companies (TOCs) and creating a System Operator to enhance strategic planning of the railway and to maximise use of available capacity.[16] Improving safety was a constant theme - workforce injuries reduced by 50% over 2014-2019 .[16] During this time Network Rail were also delivering the "biggest upgrade since Victorian times"[17] with £15 billion of new projects. Carne oversaw the opening of Reading station,[18] Birmingham New Street Station[19] and the new Borders Railway in Scotland,[20] all by Her Majesty the Queen. He also accompanied the Duke of Cambridge on the opening of the new London Bridge Station [21]

Carne and the Transport secretary, Chris Grayling, gave back to back speeches to launch the Digital Railway strategy in May 2018.[22] Carne had consistently advocated that moving from analogue signalling to digital signalling using the European Train Control System (ETCS) would reduce cost, increase capacity and reliability and improve safety.[23]

Carne was presented with an award by 'Women in Rail' in 2018 in recognition of his industry leadership in diversity and inclusion.[24] The number of women employed by Network Rail increased by 30% during CP5 (2014-2019)[25]

In October 2017 the statement of funds for the next five year Control Period (CP6) of £47.9 Bln (for England and Wales) was announced.[26] This represented an increase in funding of 25% in the operations, maintenance and renewal of the railway, which came as a welcome surprise to some in the industry who had expected funding would be frozen or reduced.[27]

In February 2018, Carne announced that he would step down as the chief executive in the summer of 2018; this would allow his successor to take control of the company for the next control period covering 2019–2024.[28]

Carne was awarded a CBE for services to the Rail industry in the Queens Birthday honours 2018.

Personal life

Carne is married with three children and lives in Hampshire.[6] He is an independent governor of Falmouth University and an Advisory Board member of Hypertunnel. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering,[29] a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers.[4]

References
  1. Odell, Mark (5 September 2013). "Former Shell executive named as Network Rail chief". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  2. Massey, Ray (26 May 2014). "'We will be the most punctual in Europe': New Network Rail boss pledges to make trains run like clockwork". This is Money. DMG Media. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  3. "Mark Carne". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  4. "Our board". Network Rail. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  5. "Network Rail appoints new boss Mark Carne". BBC News. BBC. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 24 August 2014.
  6. "Network Rail announces new chief executive". Network Rail. 5 September 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  7. "New Network Rail boss Mark Carne to make £675,000 per year". Metro. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  8. "New Network Rail chief to earn £80,000 more than predecessor". The Guardian. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  9. RAIL, issue 746, 16 April 2014, p. 10.
  10. "What reclassification means for investors". Network Rail. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  11. Hendy, Sir Peter. "George Bradshaw Address 2018" (PDF).
  12. "Network Rail's performance". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  13. "House of Commons - Network Rail's 2014-2019 investment programme - Committee of Public Accounts". publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  14. "Sir Peter Hendy report: re-planning of Network Rail's investment programme". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  15. "Network Rail sells railway arches for £1.5bn". 10 September 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  16. MCIJ, Nigel Wordsworth BSc(Hons). "Mark Carne looks back on his time at Network Rail". Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  17. McLoughlin, Sir Patrick (30 April 2019). "The Williams Review must establish a new vision for our railway". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  18. "Her Majesty The Queen opens redeveloped Reading station". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  19. "Queen & Prince Philip officially open Birmingham New Street Station". ITV News. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  20. "Borders Railway", Wikipedia, 3 July 2019, retrieved 12 July 2019
  21. "Royal Opening for London Bridge Station which offers a 'Transformation in Passenger Experience'". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  22. Switchboard 0300 330 3000, Media enquiries 020 7944 3021 Out of hours media enquiries 020 7944 4292. "Digital rail revolution will reduce overcrowding and cut delays". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  23. MCIJ, Nigel Wordsworth BSc(Hons). "Understanding the commitment to the Digital Railway". Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  24. "2018 Awards". Women in Rail. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  25. "'Getting more women into the railway is key to better performance' says Network Rail". Network Rail Media Centre. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  26. "Rail infrastructure funding: statement of funds available 2019 to 2024". GOV.UK. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  27. "Railnews - Speculation grows about Network Rail funding". railnews.mobi. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  28. Williams, Christopher (7 February 2018). "End of the line for rail chief just weeks after show of support". The Telegraph (50, 613). Business. p. 3. ISSN 0307-1235.
  29. "50 engineering leaders become Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering - Royal Academy of Engineering".
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