The Office of Rail Regulation has outlined its priorities for ensuring Britain’s railways deliver improved performance, safety and efficiency over the coming year.
The regulator’s business plan for 2011-12, published yesterday, sets out clear priorities aimed at ensuring:
- Safer and more reliable train services, with better stations and improved information for passengers.
- Further improvements in health and safety for those who work on the railways.
- Fair access to the rail network for train operators, with planned maintenance and enhancement projects completed on time.
- Greater collaborative working across the rail industry to drive out increased efficiency.
In order to deliver these outcomes over the coming year the regulator will focus on:
- Ensuring that Network Rail delivers against its obligations, including making progress on agreed trajectories for improvements in efficiency, health and safety and asset management.
- Working with duty holders across the rail industry to ensure they continue to make progress towards excellence in health and safety culture and risk management.
- Launching a periodic review of Network Rail’s outputs and the levels of access charges that train operators must pay for access to the network.
- Encouraging the rail industry to actively engage with the debate on industry reform and the implementation of the recommendations arising from the McNulty Rail Value for Money Study.
- Delivery of our consumer programme (including addressing and resolving ticketing complexity and improving passenger information).
Commenting on the plan, ORR chief executive, Bill Emery said:
“Britain’s railways have made good progress in recent years. But they can and must do more to deliver greater efficiency, safety and performance for those who use, work on and pay for the rail system. This is what drives our focus as regulator – both in enabling a better railway for today and in ensuring the rail industry is fit for the future.
“This is an important year for the railways with big decisions to be made on industry structure, including changes to franchising and Network Rail and the findings of the McNulty Rail Value for Money Study. There is a big job for us to do in ensuring the industry focuses on getting the best overall outcomes for the long-term without taking their eye off delivery of current commitments.”
