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Periodic review 2013: Rail Freight: Conclusion on the average variable usage charge and a freight specific charge

Reference: ORR/005/2012
Date published: 17 May 2012
Start date: 17 May 2012
Closing date: 10 August 2012

On 17 May 2012 we published our Periodic review 2013 consultation on the variable usage charge and a freight specific charge. This consultation marked another important step in the 2013 periodic review of Network Rail’s access charges (PR13).

The purpose of the consultation was to:

  1. consult on work undertaken to review the variable usage charge paid by both passenger and freight operators to recover the cost directly incurred by running trains on the network;
  2. allow us to draw conclusions, on the basis of this consultation, on the likely scale of the variable usage charge for control period 5 (CP5, in order to establish a cap on the average level of the variable usage charge; and
  3. consult on the introduction of a new track access charge for certain rail freight commodities in CP5, in order to recover infrastructure costs caused by freight operating on the network that are not currently recovered from other freight charges (we call these “freight avoidable costs”).

The consultation period closed on 10 August 2012 and after taking into account consultees' views, we have now set out our decision (PDF 1,810 Kb) on most of the issues on which we consulted. We have decided to consult further on whether or not to apply the new freight specific charge to Biomass (PDF 325 Kb), and if so, what the rate of the charge should be.

Decision document

Our decisions conclude on our May 2012 consultation. These decisions are of particular importance to freight operators, their customers and other parts of the freight haulage supply chain, but they also affect the wider rail industry including Network Rail and passenger operators.

Consultation document

Related documents

Jan 2013
Analysis of road and rail costs between coal mines and power stations - report by MDS Transmodal (PDF 308 Kb)
Nov 2012
Review of Network Rail Vehicle Track Interaction Strategic Model (VTISM) modelling and allocation to market segments for Freight Avoidable Costs - report by Arup (PDF 197 Kb)
Oct 2012
The impact of changes in access charges on the demand for coal: update to NERA May 2012 assessment (PDF 90 Kb)
Jul 2012
Impact of changes in track access charges on rail freight traffic - Stage 2 report by MDS Transmodal Limited (PDF 857 Kb)
Jun 2012
Response to Network Rail consultation - Variable Usage Charge Estimates and Freight Caps - report by Morgan Tucker (PDF 474 Kb)
May 2012
The impact of changes in access charges on the demand for coal - report by NERA (PDF 1624 Kb)
Mar 2012
Review of Analysis in Network Rail's Freight Cap consultation - report by Arup (PDF 557 Kb)
Feb 2012
Impact of changes in track access charges on rail freight traffic - Stage 1 report by MDS Transmodal Limited (PDF 653 Kb)

Letters to stakeholders

26/04/2013
Preparing CP5 price lists for the variable usage charge (VUC) (PDF 60 Kb)
24/09/2012
Variable usage charge - Calculating suspension factors for CP5 for freight vehicles (PDF 316 Kb)

Related links

Responses

Last updated: February 2013