Rail industry welcomes rail regulator ORR’s Final Determination

Today the rail regulator Office of Rail and Road (ORR) published its Final Determination, approving Network Rail’s funding for the next five yearly funding cycle, known as Control Period 6.
 
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), responded: “The Railway Industry Association welcomes the publication of today’s Final Determination, and we are encouraged to see the ORR taking the concerns of the rail supply community onboard, particularly around ‘boom and bust’ funding. This impacts rail businesses’ ability to recruit and invest and jeopardises the ability of SMEs in the industry to survive. It also increases the cost of running the rail network by up to 30%, which is bad for taxpayers, passengers and freight users.

“In its Final Determination, ORR suggest releasing “risk funds”, to allow increased spending in the later years of Control Periods, thereby smoothing out work profiles. We welcome this move and look forward to working with Network Rail and ORR to ensure the funds are used correctly.”
 
On the increase of R&D funding, Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), responded:
 
“RIA supports the increase of R&D funding from £100 million to £245 million, which will allow the rail industry – with match funding from the private sector – to develop new and innovative solutions to improve customer and freight services. However, as RIA called for in its submission to the Autumn Budget, it is vital that this additional funding is available for both infrastructure and rolling stock R&D, as the continued development of both is vital in achieving journey time and passenger benefits, as we build a world class railway.”

1. ORR’s Final Determination documents can be found here.
2. About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the representative body for UK-based suppliers to the UK and world-wide railways. It has more than 220 companies in membership in a sector that contributes £36 billion in economic growth and £11 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 600,000 people—more than the workforce of Birmingham. It is also a growing industry with the number of rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly too.  RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the industry.