ORR - THE OFFICE OF RAIL REGULATION - WWW.RAIL-REG.GOV.UK

Network Rail's accountability

As the owner and operator of the national rail infrastructure, Network Rail has a key role to play in railway safety and improving railway performance and efficiency. Network Rail is held to account by:

The most important condition of Network Rail's network licence is Condition 7 (network stewardship) which requires the company to operate, maintain, renew, replace, improve, enhance and develop the network having regard to all relevant circumstances including matters of finance:

Condition 7 requires Network Rail to publish criteria describes how it will balance different priorities and requirements and to produce an annual business plan in a format set out by ORR. It also sets out how Network Rail should develop route utilisation strategies.

Enforcement action may follow if ORR believes that Network Rail is not complying with the requirements of its licence. ORR took enforcement action against Railtrack for such a breach on four occasions between 1999 and 2001. In March 2006, ORR announced it intended to impose a financial penalty of £250,000 on Network Rail for breach of Condition 7 of its network licence.