Consultation on reform of access contractual arrangements - seeking your views

We have today published a consultation document on proposals for a review of access contractual arrangements across the board. This document represents  just one strand of ORR’s overall contribution to the wider industry reform programme, which we launched in response to the Rail Value for Money study – it involves all aspects of the industry working collaboratively to deliver real long-term cost and efficiency savings and responds to the specific recommendation in the study which says that ORR should identify and develop options for streamlining industry contractual change and consultation processes. We would like to extend our thanks to all those parties whom we met with informally in the final quarter of 2011, and whose views have been as important as those in the Rail Value for Money Study in helping to form the proposals in this collaborative document, as well as helping to develop and inform our own views.

The responses to this document will allow us to identify and publish an action plan of work which will be undertaken by various industry parties, including ORR. Our aim is to make changes to the regulatory framework to provide a more robust, less complex legal and contractual framework that adds value, facilitates a public interest outcome, results in improved and closer working relationships (including handing further responsibility to the industry where possible), ensures that the right balance of incentives are in place and provides a reduced cost to the industry as a whole.

For these reasons, we would strongly encourage all recipients to read through the document, and to respond with their comments. We would also like to remind recipients that we are holding an industry seminar to discuss the contents of the consultation at our London offices on 15th February 2012. Further details are available in the consultation document. In the meantime, if you require any further information, please contact me – my details are below.

Consultation closes for some parts of the document on 7th March 2012. For other parts, the deadline is 18th April 2012. Further details are available in the document, and we would advise you to familiarise yourself with these deadlines so that they are not missed.

Further information on this aspect of the industry reform project is available elsewhere on our website.