Network Rail’s 43 public members today published their first ‘annual report’ summarising their activities over the last year and outlining how the membership have held the company and its board to account.

The Network Rail board is directly accountable to its members instead of shareholders. Members provide ‘secondary governance’ in holding the board to account for its leadership and management.

In the first annual activity statement, the members summarise their main activities over the course of the year highlighting some of the areas in which they have explored, tested, and where necessary, challenged the company’s non-executive directors, including its chairman, as part of their responsibility to hold the board to account and ensure the board is properly fulfilling its role.

Peter Skyte, members’ coordinator, said: “Members play a critical role in the governance regime of Network Rail. People need to know what we do and we are today publishing our first annual activity statement to show how we are discharging our governance role in Network Rail delivering a safe, reliable and improving railway for the people of Britain.”

“Perhaps the most significant aspect of our role so far has been in helping to achieve a fundamental change in the approach of the company to safety following serious concerns about the systematic under-reporting of workforce and contractor safety incidents. This has helped in delivering a safer railway for the travelling public, workforce and people of Britain.”