SOME rail chiefs regarded the 2007/08 new year engineering overruns which led to a record £14 million fine as a “trivial” matter, it has been revealed.

The Network Rail board took “a whole series of positions” about the overruns, one of which led to travel chaos on the West Coast Main Line, according to a report commissioned by NR’s members who act as proxy shareholders for the not-for-dividend company. The line links Lancashire to London via Preston.

A copy of the report was passed to The Guardian newspaper which said it had been prepared by professional services company PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC).

According to The Guardian, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) which imposed the £14 million fine, had told the report’s authors: “We have concerns as to the inconsistency of the NR board’s responses to some of the regulatory interventions, specifically the 2007/08 new year overruns where they responded on one level to disagree that there had been a breach, on another level that it had been a trivial breach and that even if there was breach that a fine was appropriate.....They took a whole series of positions.”

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Norman Baker said: “This is an extremely serious matter. Critical reports like this should not be hidden away from the public. I will raise this with the (NR’s) chief executive.”