UK Office of Rail and Road (ORR) asked Network Rail to deliver additional GBP 1 billion (EUR 1.13 billion) for renewals work to replace worn out assets, funded through changes including greater efficiency and other savings. This will bring the total renewals budget to GBP 18 billion (EUR 20.4 billion) across Britain, ORR says.
“”The entire rail industry, including passengers, freight customers and train operators, relies on Network Rail to deliver a high-quality service,” Joanna Whittington, Chief Executive of ORR said.
In addition, ORR has said that Network Rail should amend its plans to include an extra £80m for additional safety-related expenditure, to reallocate GBP 0.9 billion (EUR 1 billion) of the GBP 1.7 billion (EUR 1.9 billion) England & Wales funding and create a GBP 10 million (EUR 11.3 million) performance innovation fund to support testing and implementing new ideas across the country.
The Rail Regulator has set out its initial view of Network Rail’s five-year plans to spend more than GBP 34 billion (EUR 38.5 billion), of which GBP 30 billion (EUR 34 billion) investment envisages in England and Wales and GBP 4 billion (EUR 4.5 billion) in Scotland to 2024 (the Control Period 6).
In its assessment of the five-year plans (the Draft Determination), ORR has identified greater scope for Network Rail to do more than it proposed to boost reliability and safety, for the benefit of both passengers and freight customers.
ORR says that the railway performance has failed many passengers in recent months. Strong planning is central to improving Network Rail’s performance and therefore the service passengers receive. Network Rail’s route-based plans are better than the plans for the previous five years and provide a foundation for improvement which passengers and freight customers rightly demand.
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