ORR’s priorities
Safety and service improvements and risk management remain key priorities for the Office of Rail and Road .
SAFETY and service improvements will continue to be priorities for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
Risk management is a key focus in the ORR’s 2017-18 business plan, published in late April, with the ORR believing that route devolution can improve this at a local level.
Safety improvements on new railways such as Crossrail are also sought, with the regulator pushing for a ‘safety in design’ approach which seeks to eliminate risks before new routes become operational.
It will encourage Network Rail (NR) to become a “more predictable organisation” under its Risk Management Maturity Model. The ORR says this will be particularly important as route devolution takes place. “Where we see weaknesses in different areas and between different routes we will encourage and, if necessary, enforce change,” it said.
Driver management is likely to come under scrutiny, following incidents where driver-managers have been in cabs with drivers but serious incidents have still occurred. Station management, train dispatch and the platform-train interface are also to be investigated, as is occupational health, with guidance due to be published on fitness for duty.
Customer service also falls under the ORR’s remit, and in 2017-18 it will deliver work on travellers with disabilities. Mystery shopper exercises will take place, as well as a study of awareness of ‘passenger assist’ support and the experiences of passengers who use it. Complaints data is to be followed up by surveys into passenger satisfaction of how train operators deal with complaints. Further analysis on ticket machines is also due.
Monitoring of NR is to change as devolution takes place, with changes to the ORR’s internal reporting to make better route-based comparisons. The introduction of route-based scorecards is another change, and the ORR is observing NR’s local engagement meetings to understand what demands stakeholders make of the company. The ORR will publish a document on route-based regulation in the summer.
The regulator says NR is “less efficient” in some activities this year than in the past, with renewals highlighted. Although operations and maintenance efficiency is said to have improved, the ORR will be monitoring the impact of deferrals of renewals work.
Work continues on the Periodic Review 2018, which will determine the outputs that ORR seeks from NR. Devolution of NR’s routes will “fundamentally alter regulation of the company in the next Control Period”, says ORR, adding that it is prioritising route-based regulation in anticipation of this. It is also looking at the National System Operator function, and in 2017-18 the ORR will examine in detail what this part of NR should be delivering, what its scorecard and relationship with operators will look like, and how performance will be assessed.
The ORR will not be taking forward a ‘fundamental review’ of all charges imposed on the railway. However, it will be investigating open access charges, looking at how operators might pay a share of fixed costs.
Financially, the ORR’s rail budget is set to be the same as in 2016-17 in real terms, with £29.4 million raised from statutory charges from the rail industry - 41% of the total, with 51% coming from health and safety regulation. A further £2.5m will come from its roads operation.