Rail Regulator response to PAC report

23 August 2000
ORR/00/29

Rail Regulator response to PAC Report

The Rail Regulator, Tom Winsor, has welcomed today's report from the Public Accounts Committee on the part played by the Office of the Rail Regulator (ORR) in ensuring Railtrack's maintenance and renewal of the railway network during the period from privatisation in 1995 until 2000.

Commenting on the report, Tom Winsor said: "The regulatory framework which I inherited was not fit for purpose, and I set out immediately to strengthen the accountability of Railtrack to the public interest - in particular, the bonus system, which rewarded Railtrack even when it was failing to achieve its own performance targets. This system was set in place in 1995 and cannot be changed until 2001, but I have reviewed the whole bonus system and you can be sure that from April 2001 these nonsenses are going to be swept away. The Committee's report acknowledges fully and endorses the actions we've been taking in the last twelve months, which has moved rail regulation from first to fifth gear in one shift. Railtrack as trustees of the network must deliver on its public interest commitments, and there are encouraging signs that it is. I challenge Railtrack publicly to endorse this report from Parliament's most senior committee."

The Thirty-fifth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts The Office of the Rail Regulator: Ensuring that Railtrack Maintain and Renew the Railway Network (HC536) is published by authority of the House of Commons, available from the HM Stationery Office, price £9.70.

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