Hammond ups the pressure on Network Rail

摘要

Speaking at a conference on July 8, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond demolished a long-standing obstacle to greater government control over Network Rail. Under Labour, it was always considered essential by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to maintain the fiction that the company was a private entity, thus keeping its debt off the government's borrowing.rnBut Hammond said that it was now a matter of 'complete indifference to me - and to the Treasury - how the national statisticians classify Network Rail's debt'. If it is decided to take greater public control of NR, the decision will be taken on the basis of 'what is right for the railway, not on the basis of accounting treatment', he added.