RIA responds to ORR’s Draft Determination

12 June 2018

Today, the regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) published its Draft Determination. 

Peter Loosley, Policy Director at the Railway Industry Association said:

“The Railway Industry Association (RIA) notes the publication today of the ORR’s Draft Determination for CP6.  We understand that the £30bn relating to Operations, Maintenance and Renewals expenditure for England and Wales is consistent with both the SoFA and Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plans.  It does not of course contain any provision for ‘Hendy Tail’ enhancements which we understood to constitute roughly £9bn of the £47.8bn SoFA and which is a matter for the Department for Transport. RIA will need to examine the Draft Determination in detail and discuss with RIA members, ORR and others as necessary to inform our more detailed response.
 
“We are pleased however to see the ORR commitment to increased renewals expenditure and that they have included a commitment for Network Rail to review its spending profile to smooth rail investment over the five years of CP6. This is something the Railway Industry Association and its members have been calling for over many years and, in particular, since the downturn in renewals expenditure over the last 18 months of CP5. We therefore applaud this reaction from ORR. Aside from its damaging impact on rail suppliers, ‘boom and bust’ in the rail funding system results in a more expensive railway too. So we urge Network Rail, the DfT, Treasury and the rail supply sector to work with us and the ORR to deliver a smoother pipeline of work in the years ahead, to the benefit of the sector, the passenger, and ultimately the taxpayer as well.”

1. The ORR Draft Determination can be found here.
2. About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the representative body for UK-based suppliers to the UK and world-wide railways. It has more than 200 companies in membership in a sector that contributes £36 billion in economic growth and £11 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 600,000 people—more than the workforce of Birmingham. It is also a growing industry with the number of rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly too.  RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the industry.