Regulator issues decision in Network Rail v GNER appeal
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31 March 2003 The Rail Regulator has today issued the following statement in the appeal by Network Rail Infrastructure Limited (formerly called Railtrack PLC) against certain aspects of a decision (No NV33) of the Network and Vehicle Change Sub-Committee of the Access Dispute Resolution Committee, and a cross-appeal by Great North Eastern Railway Limited against other aspects of that decision. "This appeal arose out of the derailment on 17 October 2000, when a GNER train derailed at Welham curve near Hatfield, resulting in the loss of four lives and many other injuries. The principal question in this appeal concerned alleged deterioration in the condition of Network Rail's network and whether such deterioration, if proved, is capable of constituting a "Network Change" within Case (i)(a) of the definition of that term in the network code. I have decided that it is. In this respect therefore GNER is successful in this appeal. My formal judgment containing my analysis of the relevant issues and the reasons for my decision in relation to this matter and the secondary issues in the appeal will be issued next month." Notes for editors: Jurisdiction 1. The Rail Regulator is the appeal body for certain classes of dispute in the railway industry, including in matters of changes which may be made to the network by Network Rail or at the instance of any train operator. Disputes may raise issues of regulatory policy, or questions of law. The tribunal of first instance, from which appeals to the Regulator come, is the Network and Vehicle Change Sub-Committee of the Access Dispute Resolution Committee, a railway industry dispute resolution body established at the time of the industry restructuring in 1994. Nature of dispute 2. The Network Rail -v- GNER appeal is on questions of law. It raises no issues of regulatory policy. 3. The appeal concerns several issues, the most important of which is whether, as GNER alleged, deterioration of the condition of Network Rail's network is a change to the network within the meaning of the relevant provisions of the industry-wide network code. Network Rail argued that the relevant provisions are confined to changes to the layout and configuration of the network and do not extend to its quality. GNER argued for a wider interpretation, so as to include the quality and condition of the network within the relevant legal definition. 4. GNER has yet to prove that there was any such deterioration and, if established, the causal link between it and the losses which it says it has sustained as a result of the Hatfield derailment on 17 October 2000. Press enquiries: ORR Press Office : 020 7282 2002/2007 |
