ORR launches Network Monitor
14 March 2005
ORR/10/05
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) today issued the first Network Rail Monitor. This is a new quarterly report on Network Rail’s performance as owner and operator of the national rail network, against a range of financial and operational measures.
The first Monitor covers the first nine months of the current financial year. The key results are:
- the fall in the train delays attributed to Network Rail has been faster than set in regulatory targets. Overall train performance at the end of December was slightly ahead of Network Rail’s target;
- the number of asset failures continues to fall; and
- Network Rail is under-spending against its regulatory allowances following the last Access Charges Review. Further work is being done to establish whether this is the result of efficiency or deferral of work which may affect outputs.
The results are described in detail in a commentary in the Monitor. In publishing the Monitor, Chris Bolt, ORR Chairman, said: “Network Rail has a critical role in delivering improved rail services and better value for money for rail users and taxpayers. So its performance needs to be open to public scrutiny, to reinforce its accountability through contracts to train operators, through its licence to ORR and to its members.
“Although it is making good progress in reducing delays, ORR will want to make sure that Network Rail’s plans for the remaining four years of the current price control deliver both the outputs established at the review, and the efficiency savings of over 30% that were assumed.”
ORR consulted widely on the content of the Monitor in November 2004. The measures will be developed further with Network Rail over the coming months, to reflect some of the issues raised in consultation and to ensure that the Monitor provides a comprehensive high level view of Network Rail’s performance against regulatory and contractual targets.
Chris Bolt continued: “As the responses to our consultation showed, there are still important gaps in the Monitor such as activity volumes and unit costs, and Network Rail needs to move quickly to fill them. Transparency of reporting is an important part of accountability, and ORR will continue to look for improvements in the way Network Rail’s performance is monitored.”
Notes for editors:
- The Network Rail Monitor together with a commentary on it is available on this website.
- Statement on Network Rail’s Stewardship of the National Rail Network 2003–04 is also available in hard copy from the ORR Librarian, Sue MacSwan, 1 Waterhouse Square, 138–142 Holborn, London EC1N 2TQ, tel: 020 7282 2001, fax: 020 7282 2045.
- The consultation document Network Rail Monitor is also available from the ORR Librarian, at the above address.
- Network Rail is forecasting that it will do better than the target for attributable delay for 2004/05 of 12.3 million minutes for all services, set in the 2003 Access Charges Review. However, performance is still much worse than the best levels achieved prior to the Hatfield derailment in 2000. Delay to all train services in 1999/2000 was 7.76 million minutes compared to 13.25 in 2003/04.
Press enquiries
ORR Press Office – 020 7282 2141/2007
Out of office hours – Pager 07659 127303
