MANY SYSTEMS HAVE a loop mechanism inherent in them, often referred to as Feedback. This comes in two types, Negative and Positive. writes Ralph Freeman.
Negative Feedback:
The output opposes changes to the input, pushing the system back toward stability.
Positive Feedback:
The output reinforces changes to the input, pushing the system further away from stability.
Unfortunately CRT finds itself stuck with the latter with regard to maintenance. I suggest.
The root cause of this problem pre-dates Canal & River Trust going back to the British Waterways era around the year 2009.
Breakdown Maintenance replacing Preventative Maintenance:
Due to budget constraints and reduced in-house technical labour, the BW's/CRT's maintenance model shifted from planned preventative maintenance (re-greasing, timber monitoring, repointing brickwork, early paddle replacement) to run-to-failure. Rather than servicing an ageing structure before it collapses, action is taken only after an asset breaks down.
The 'Emergency Stoppage' Multiplier:
When routine maintenance is deferred on 200 years old hydraulic infrastructure, minor defects (like a small water leak through a paddle seal or culvert) escalate into catastrophic structural failures (washouts, canal bed breaches, collapsed lock walls). A job that would have taken a maintenance crew a few hours as routine work turns into an emergency closure lasting months and costing millions.
Compounding Backlog:
Unplanned emergency repairs draw capital directly away from the scheduled winter stoppage program. When an emergency breach consumes millions from the budget, planned winter lock gate replacements and dredging projects elsewhere are cancelled or deferred, guaranteeing future failure on those untouched sections.
Systemic Vulnerability to Weather:
Without routine management of water feeds, reservoirs, and siltation, the system loses resilience. Minor heatwaves cause immediate water shortages because leaking lock gates waste water, and winter rainfall causes embankment slips because drainage channels and culverts aren't routinely cleared.
Conclusion:
This shift has created a positive feedback loop: reduced routine maintenance drives up emergency failures, which in turn consumes the resources needed to restore routine maintenance, hence pushing the unscheduled stoppage rate to record levels.
CRT needs to break this loop for the Navigation to survive, but does it know how ?