Rail Regulator publishes policy on changes to train operators’ track access rights

01 June 2004
ORR/16/04

The Rail Regulator, Tom Winsor, has today published a policy statement on how train operators’ track access rights can be changed in future, including a use it or lose it mechanism to ensure that capacity is used more efficiently.  The statement follows previous consultations with the industry, most recently in July and December 2003.  There have been no major policy changes since the earlier consultations, although today’s policy statement does contain some changes on detailed points. 

Tom Winsor said:
“It is very important that capacity on the railway network is used efficiently.  The document I am publishing today sets out a number of mechanisms to ensure that train operators’ access rights can be adjusted, removed or transferred where the original rights are no longer needed or are not being used.  At the same time, these mechanisms provide valuable protections for train operators so that rights cannot be removed or adjusted without good cause and so that the operator can on sound grounds challenge a proposed surrender or adjustment of rights.  Most of these processes are new or incorporate significant changes compared with those in existing track access contracts.  A number of them are specific to freight, where competition between freight operators requires fair and effective means of securing the surrender or transfer of rights for which an operator no longer has a reasonable commercial need.   
                                                                                                                                
“I now intend to put these mechanisms into place by incorporating a new part, Part J, into the network code.  This will ensure that all operators – or all freight operators, where mechanisms are specific to freight – are treated alike. It will also mean that the mechanisms can be modified relatively quickly in the light of experience.” 
 
Before giving a notice under condition C8 of the network code to incorporate the new Part J, the Regulator will consult Network Rail, train operators and others on the draft Part J contained in the document published today.  The Regulator expects to publish a notice in late June 2004, with the new Part J taking effect from January 2005.

The Regulator’s policy statement deals with the following topics:

  • the voluntary surrender or adjustment of access rights;
  • the mandatory surrender or adjustment of access rights;
  • a use it or lose it mechanism;
  • a transfer mechanism where one freight operator wins a haulage contract from another and needs the associated access rights to be transferred to it;
  • mechanisms for adjusting freight operator’s cordon caps under the use it or lose it and transfer mechanisms (these are restrictions on the use of rights at specific capacity-constrained parts of the network, and will require adjustment when a freight operator loses rights); and
  • rights review meetings at which freight operators will review their use of rights with Network Rail, with a view to surrendering rights that are no longer needed.

The mandatory surrender or adjustment of access rights will be considered case by case, with specific provisions included in bilateral track access contracts where appropriate.  The remaining provisions are all included in the proposed Part J of the network code.

Notes to editors

1. Changes to access rights: final conclusions is available from the ORR website and from the ORR Librarian, Sue MacSwan, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138-142 Holborn, London EC1N 2TQ, tel: 020 7282 2001, fax: 020 7282 2045, e-mail: rail.library@orr.gsi.gov.uk.
2. The last consultations on this subject were Changes to access rights and moderation of competition: draft conclusions, Office of the Rail Regulator, London, July 2003 and Model freight track access contract: draft conclusions, Office of the Rail Regulator, London, December 2003, available from the ORR Librarian or the ORR website.
3. The network code (formally called the Railtrack Track Access Conditions) is a common set of rules applying to all parties to regulated track access contracts with Network Rail.   It covers certain matters, generally concerning industry processes, such as timetabling, which either need to be common to all train operators or where there are significant benefits in having commonality.  Condition C8 of the network code allows the Regulator to modify the network code, subject to various safeguards and procedural requirements, including a public interest test. 

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