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 regulatory regime, established under the Railways Act 1993 and the Competition Act 1998 and other instruments made under those statutes;
- contracts with its customers and funders, including train operators (passenger and freight), the Department for Transport (DfT), and Passenger Transport Executives;
- periodic reviews (usually five yearly) by ORR establish the structure, level and profile of the network operator’s income from users of its network and other sources;
- the powers of ORR to oversee the consumption of network capacity through its approval of access contracts with train operators and the direction of compulsory third party access, in cases when the network operator and a prospective user have failed to agree;
- industry-wide codes that establish operational and technical rules and procedures which need to be common for all industry participants;
- the general rules of administrative law which apply to the network operator when it is carrying out duties of importance to the public, such as the type approval of new rolling stock; and
- the safety regulatory regime, established under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and regulations made under it.
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:
- in accordance with best practice and in a timely, efficient and economical manner; and
- so as to satisfy the reasonable requirements of train operators and funders in respect of the quality and capability of the network, to the greatest extent reasonably practicable to facilitate railway service performance for the carriage of passengers and good.
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.
