Comment
challenge is how to ensure that as the rail industry works towards improving efficiency and value for money, safety is not jeopardised. ORR has always been clear that health and safety on the railways
by Richard Price
Planning for 2014
B
ig challenges, yet huge opportunities, are the key words that instantly come to mind when I think about the period ahead for the rail sector. On so many measures, our railways have never
been more successful. Britain’s railways carry more passengers than ever before. Well over one billion
journeys are taken on Britain’s railways each year and this looks set to continue to increase. Between April 2009 and March 2010, nearly 86.4 million people entered and exited the UK’s busiest station, London Waterloo – that’s approximately two and a half times the population of Canada – and statistics show that passenger satisfaction is at its highest level since records began. But, success has come at a high cost to passengers and to
taxpayers, and the industry now needs to demonstrate to everyone that it is up to meeting the huge challenges ahead while grasping the opportunities it faces.
What are the challenges?
Industry costs are up to 30 per cent higher than other European railways, and one of the biggest challenges is how the industry makes vital changes to make the sector more efficient and better value for money. Sir Roy McNulty’s Value for Money report, published in May,
calls for £1bn of savings from the rail sector by 2019. It’s a huge challenge but a great opportunity to move towards a more efficient, and better value, railway. As part of this challenge, improvements must be introduced to make industry costs more transparent, and there should be better, and clearer, information available for the public on how public money is spent. Enhancing efficiency and driving down costs is rightly the key challenge at the forefront of the industry’s mind. But, another key
‘Success has come at a high cost to passengers and to taxpayers, and the industry now needs to demonstrate that it is up to meeting the challenges’
PAGE 32 AUGUST 2011
is its key priority. Efficiency and safety go hand-in-hand and there can never be, nor does there ever need to be, room for complacency.
How are we meeting these challenges?
ORR’s periodic review (PR13) provides a major opportunity to discuss with stakeholders and interested parties the changes that should, and must, be made to further improve and develop the rail sector.
The review is our assessment of what Network Rail must
achieve from 2014, the money it needs to do so in light of what the government wants from the rail sector, and the incentives needed to encourage delivery and performance. PR13 presents a great opportunity to help ensure a better railway for everyone. In order to ensure success, ORR has been seeking views from, and discussing priorities with, key stakeholders and interested parties, and has designed and led events across Britain – in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Manchester. These events are helping us to develop and shape our decisions and the advice we will put to ministers on several important matters, including public funding. I have been delighted to participate in these events and to
hear a wide range of views from around Britain on the future of the railway. The opportunities are there to be grasped. But, only by working together as an industry to meet these challenges will the huge opportunities we see as shaping the future of the railway develop. The opportunities are for everyone – for customers, taxpayers,
freight customers and rail employees. We encourage all those interested to participate at: –
www.rail-reg.gov.uk/pr13
RICHARD PRICE is chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation
An electrification team at Rugby
Network Rail
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