ORR publishes its plan for 2009-10

30 March 2009
ORR/09/09

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) today publishes its plan covering the period April 2009 – March 2010. This sets out ORR’s priorities for the forthcoming year, the first year of its five-year strategy – Promoting safety and value in Britain’s railways.

Bill Emery, ORR chief executive said: “Our plan for 2009-10 sets out what we plan to do and the results against which we will test our success for the seven themes on which our strategy is based:

• focusing on passenger and freight customers now and in the future;
• excellence in health and safety culture and risk control;
• excellence in asset management;
• improved industry planning and timely and efficient delivery of major projects;
• efficient use of capacity on the mainline network;
• development by the industry of the capabilities of its people; and
• high-quality data and information for key decisions.

“This will be a tough year for the railways, but the industry has shown it can deliver improved safety, quality for customers, and efficiency. By building on this and doing more, it can make an increasing contribution to the transport needs of our economy. Our vision is that Britain’s railways should deliver safety, performance and efficiency equivalent to the best comparable railways in the world.

“Effective independent regulation plays an important role in ensuring that Network Rail, and the railway industry as a whole, can and does meet the expectations placed on it, and provide assurance of this to users and funders.

“We also recognise the pressures the industry faces, particularly in the current economic environment. We too must deliver ever improving value for money in what we do and our plan sets out how we are responding to this challenge.”

Notes to Editors

1. ORR’s plan for 2009-10 is available on our website.
2. ORR’s corporate strategy is available on our website.

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