Rail Professional interview: Anna Walker


It’s important for a regulator to remain ahead of, certainly abreast of, a sector


A year into her tenure as chair of the ORR, Anna Walker tells Katie Silvester how the railways compare to other former nationalised industries


PHOTOGRAPHY IAN ENNESS W PAGE 18 SEPTEMBER 2010


hen Anna Walker was appointed chair of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) a year ago, a few eyebrows were raised. A career civil servant, she had no experience of the rail industry,


other than as a passenger. But what she did bring to the table was a considerable understanding of the regulation of former privatised industries, having had senior roles both at Oftel and the Healthcare Commission. Walker says the role is ‘fascinating’, but admits her first year in post has been a steeper learning curve than she had expected. ‘It made me feel a lot better to hear Philip Hammond say that railways were the most complex aspect of his portfolio,’ she adds. Rail regulation has gone through various permutations since the industry was privatised, with the ORR now having several functions. Its official


description is ‘the independent safety and economic regulator for Britain’s railways’, with the economic side relating primarily to monitoring Network Rail and the safety element being the safety inspectorate. It is also responsible for licensing operators of trains, stations, depots and networks. The day-to-day running of the ORR is down to


the executive members of the board, headed by chief executive Bill Emery and chief inspector Ian Prosser. Walker’s role is non-executive. The daughter of


the Conservative life peer Lord Butterworth, Walker attended boarding school in Kent, going on to study history at Oxford. She had a 30-year career in the civil service before replacing former ORR chairman Chris Bolt. ‘I chose the civil service because I am someone who’s


always worked through having three children, but I am not a feminist and I wanted to go somewhere where I


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