Network Rail regulation and performance

LU fined £500,000 after near-fatal lift shaft accident

05.12.16: London Underground (LU) has been fined £500,000 for breaching health and safety law after a maintenance worker was left seriously injured from a fall in a disused Tube station in 2014. An investigation by the ORR into the incident at...

Carne opens NR doors to private funding with new review

01.12.16: Network Rail will set up an independent review designed to open it up to competition in delivering projects, the infrastructure owner’s CEO Mark Carne has announced. In a speech to the annual The Future of Rail conference, Carne highl...

ORR: Shrunken NR renewals will have ‘adverse effect’ on assets

25.11.16: The ORR is predicting a greater reliance on a greater range of safety controls in order to maintain asset safety as a result of Network Rail’s (NR’s) shrunken renewals portfolio, with “some adverse effect” currently expec...

First options revealed for new performance measures in CP6

24.11.16: A series of new performance measures designed to replace the existing system in CP6 have already been identified by the industry, the ORR has revealed, with further ideas expected. In its half-year assessment of Network Rail, the regulator...

GTR marks two years at the bottom of TOC performance table

18.11.16: It has now been two years since Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) dropped to the bottom of the public performance measure (PPM) table, with the latest quarterly figures from the ORR showing the operator recorded its lowest score since the time seri...

ORR confirms commitment to ‘incremental’ shift towards route-based regulation

17.11.16: The ORR has confirmed it is pressing ahead with introducing regulation for each of Network Rail’s individual routes as it published the initial findings from its 2018 periodic review consultation – but as a result of industry concern...

Greater NR cost efficiency vital or ‘more jobs will get pulled’

10.11.16: Network Rail’s director of northern programmes has not ruled out further project deferrals by the infrastructure owner if costs are not kept under control. At this year’s TransCityRail North Conference, Chris Montgomery, who was...

NR route directors to become ‘customers’ from late November

10.11.16: From 21 November, Network Rail’s route services will be devolved to locally-based directors who will procure and manage the supply chain – moving away from the usual procedure of giving companies the services the infrastructure owner...

Minister presses Hendy to devolve Network Rail in Scotland amid budget issues

27.10.16: The Scottish government has demanded that Network Rail in Scotland be devolved after an independent report criticised it for allowing crucial improvement projects to go over budget. As of July 2016, the cost of the five Scottish rail upgrad...

Performance data will be ‘granular’ and operator-specific in CP6, NR reveals

26.10.16: The rail industry is preparing itself to introduce “newer metrics of performance” in the next control period so that passengers can access more “granular information” relevant to their type of service, rather than relying...

WYCA: Lack of Northern Route is ‘missed opportunity’

10.10.16: Transport leaders in the north of England have said Network Rail missed an opportunity to support rail devolution by not introducing a new route for the region. Network Rail announced last week that it will create a managing director to ove...

Hendy: Private investment needed as ‘doors shut to NR’s never ending debt’

07.10.16: Businesses should provide some of the investment Britain’s rail network needs to grow, the chair of Network Rail has said. Delivering the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) annual Rail Lecture in London this week, S...

NR creates northern MD post, but ditches Shaw devolved route idea

06.10.16: Network Rail has announced the creation of a managing director to oversee its northern portfolio as part of widespread reforms to deliver more localism – but the new role stops short of the Shaw report’s recommendation that Network R...

Retail sales at NR stations increase by 4.14% in Q1

28.09.16: Retail activity at Network Rail-owned stations has increased above the market standard in the first quarter of 2016-17. The infrastructure owner released new figures showing that like-for-like sales increased by 4.14% between April and June...

Network Rail to release land for 12,000 new homes by 2020

07.09.16: There will be 12,000 new homes built on former Network Rail land by 2020, the infrastructure owner has announced. Network Rail said it will release almost 200 sites around the country, with around 5,000 homes being built in London, 3,600 in...