Rail Regulator publishes final conclusions on the reform of the railway industry’s dispute resolution regime

02 July 2004
ORR/33/04

The Rail Regulator, Tom Winsor, has today published his final conclusions on the reform of the railway industry’s dispute resolution regime. These include the establishment of a new mediation and arbitration service for the industry and those who contract with it, and reforms to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the Access Dispute Resolution Rules, a set of rules which govern the resolution of certain types of industry disputes.

The final conclusions document follows consultation with industry.  There have been no major policy changes since the earlier consultation, although today’s policy statement does contain some changes on detailed points. In particular, the introduction of the reforms has been suspended until spring 2005 to allow the industry further opportunity to debate the issues raised during the consultation process in depth.

Tom Winsor said:

“The railway industry has a need for a sound, competent and efficient system of dispute resolution. It is very important that the dispute resolution regime provides for a high standard of dispute resolution for industry parties.  The document that I am publishing today sets out a number of mechanisms to ensure that this is achieved”.

The Regulator has given notice under Condition C8 of the network code to incorporate certain of the amended Access Dispute Resolution Rules from 31 March 2005, with the remainder taking effect on 12 May 2005, unless alternative modifications have been approved before that date by the new Office of Rail Regulation, in line with the provisions of the C8 notice.

Notes for editors:

  1. “Reform of the dispute resolution regime: final conclusions”, Office of Rail Regulation, London, July 2004, 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 previous consultation document on this subject was “Reform of the dispute resolution regime: draft conclusions”, Office of the Rail Regulator, London, June 2004, available from the ORR Librarian or the ORR website.
  3. The network code 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 and the Access Dispute Resolution Rules, subject to various safeguards and procedural requirements.

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