About the Office of Rail Regulation
The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) was established on 5 July 2004 under the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003. ORR is an independent statutory body led by a Board. The Secretary of State for Transport makes appointments to the Board for a fixed term of up to five years and may dismiss a member on the grounds set out in paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003.
Our key roles are:
- to ensure that Network Rail, the owner and operator of the national railway infrastructure - the track and signalling - manages the network efficiently and in a way that meets the needs of its users;
- to encourage continuous improvement in health and safety performance;
- to secure compliance with relevant health and safety law, including taking enforcement action as necessary;
- to develop policy and enhance relevant railway health and safety legislation; and
- we are also responsible for licensing operators of railway assets, setting the terms for access by operators to the network and other railway facilities, and enforcing competition law in the rail sector.
For details of ORR’s statutory functions and duties go to 'Corporate governance' in the left-hand navigation.
We are organised to take forward a work plan in accordance with the aim and objectives set out in the ORR Corporate strategy for 2006-09 and Business Plan 2006-07, see Corporate governance section.
We have a range of statutory powers under The Railways Act 1993. We also have concurrent jurisdiction with the Office of Fair Trading under the Competition Act 1998.
On 1 April 2006, we assumed our new responsibilities as a combined safety and economic regulator. More details on health & safety related activities can be found by following the Related link on the right.
More details about the roles of DfT and HSE may be found under Government in the Rail industry structure section of this website or on their respective websites.
