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Silverlink Owner Unveils 5 Per Cent Leap in Profits

Posted on: Thursday, 9 March 2006, 21:00 CST

By JONATHAN PRYNN

NATIONAL EXPRESS, owner of the Silverlink rail network, made Pounds 64.2 million profit last year from its train business - a five per cent increase.

It means London's biggest train operator, which has four commuter franchises in the capital, is making an average of more than Pounds 1 million a week from the railways.

The figures will anger critics of the company, who say it has been slow to respond to demands for increased spending on station safety. The firm, which runs the Consumer Affairs Editor WAGN, C2C, and One networks as well as Silverlink, also said the profit margin it earns from its Pounds 1.5 billion trains operation went up from 3.6 per cent to 4.3 per cent.

Neil Nerva, a Brent councillor, has been calling on London train operators to raise their spending on security.

He said: "This only goes to show there is money in the system to provide a common standard of passenger safety across the franchises they hold in London - and at the moment they're not doing it."

The announcement of the figures comes almost two months after the murder of lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce, 31, shortly after he left Silverlink's unmanned Kensal Green station.

His death prompted a public outcry over safety at unmanned stations and led to demands for London's train operators to keep staff working until the last train had gone. The Evening Standard has been leading the campaign.

So far one company, Chiltern Railways, has agreed to provide staff at night.

And a number of others, such as First Capital Connect - which is taking over the Thameslink and Great Northern franchises - have indicated that they will make improvements.

Silverlink has been in talks with councillors in Brent, where some of its most notorious stations are based, about changes to improve passenger safety.

It has already agreed to provide nighttime patrols at one major site, Willesden Junction, and is expected to announce further proposals within days.

Silverlink's franchise ends next November, when the routes will be let out by Transport for London. Mayor Ken Livingstone has made clear any bids for the new franchise would have to include a commitment to man all 50 of the stations at night.

Yesterday the Docklands Light Railway's operator, Serco, became the latest company to make a commitment to fund safety improvements.

The company said it will hire 16 new "Travelsafe" officers to patrol trains and stations at night It added that it would increase staffing at its busier stations - Tower Gateway, Canning Town and London City Airport, and upgrade its CCTV on stations and trains.

Source: Evening Standard; London (UK)

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