Periodic review 2018 workshops, stakeholder events and working groups

Details of the workshops and stakeholder events and working groups we have organised in relation to the periodic review 2018 (PR18).

PR18 draft determination stakeholder roundtables in England and Wales

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As part of our engagement with stakeholders to help us reach our final determination on Network Rail’s strategic business plan (SBP) for Control Period 6; ORR held three roundtables in London, Leeds and Cardiff. Around 50 participants attended these sessions, and we are grateful for stakeholders for their time and input.

A number of themes emerged in these roundtables which will help us with our future working and a brief summary can be found below:

Planning for renewals work and involvement of the supply chain:

The point was made that strong planning and engagement was important, and that there was a strong need to monitor delivery of renewals, and ensure that peaks of workload were avoided by clear evidence of planning by Network Rail in its SBP. The importance of strong monitoring by ORR was raised, and avoidance of cost escalations on renewals. Procurement was also raised.

Freight:

The importance of consideration of freight and engagement with freight customers was made, as well as concern about the 94% efficiency figure.

Vegetation management:

The importance of ensuring consistency across the strategic route plans and engagement with customers on this was noted.

The system operator:

The importance of the clarity of this role and coordination to manage new vehicles on the track in CP6.

Devolution to routes and stakeholder engagement:

Overall the move to route based regulation was seen positively, with some questions about how it will operate over the control period. The importance of local stakeholder engagement was flagged. There is considerable interest on how scorecard performance will be monitored, and whether the league tables would include project management.

Cost savings:

An area of strong interest, including impact on staff.

Asset sustainability:

A key concern, and one which ORR was asked to monitor.

PR18 draft determination stakeholder roundtable in Scotland

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As part of the engagement process leading up to the final determination for Network Rail’s strategic business plan in Scotland, ORR held a workshop in Glasgow to discuss its draft determination. 17 attendees participated and we are grateful to those who attended and gave their views. A brief summary of some of the key themes which emerged is below:

Key points raised included:

  • Ensuring the supply chain had a clear pipeline of projects.
  • The importance of performance and continued monitoring of it, alongside passenger satisfaction.
  • Routes, and how they are held to account and coordinated for cross-cutting services, e.g. train services which go across more than one route, or for freight.
  • Ensuring the lessons of CP5 are learned.

Rail Delivery Group PR18 working groups

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Our attendance at Rail Delivery Group's (RDG) PR18 working groups is one of the ways in which we engage with stakeholders as we develop our policy approach for the periodic review.

The working groups comprise representatives from industry but include wider stakeholders including governments, as well as ORR. The working groups are:

These each link to one or more of the priority work areas that we proposed in our initial consultation on PR18. The terms of reference for these groups is available below.

Terms of reference for RDG PR18 working groups

Schedule 4 & 8 re-calibration working group - December 2016

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In our charges and incentives consultation, published in December 2016, we encouraged an industry-led approach to the re-calibration of Schedules 4 and 8 in PR18. To help start this process we are hosting a series of regular meetings to agree with industry the approach for recalibrating each aspect of the regimes.

Find out more about Schedule 4 & 8 re-calibration working group

Workshops on the performance and possessions regimes - November 2015 and August 2016

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To discuss the regimes, we held a stakeholder event on Friday 27 November 2015:

We also hosted a workshop with a group of stakeholders on 5 August 2016. The purpose of the workshop was to discuss and hear stakeholder views on potential policy options.

Workshops on network charges - February 2016

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To discuss the regimes, we held stakeholder events on Friday 5 February 2016 in Glasgow and on Friday 12 February 2016 in London.

Download the presentation slides from the workshops:

Workshop on system operation - October 2015

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We hosted a workshop with a wide-range of industry stakeholders on Friday 2 October 2015. The purpose of this workshop was to discuss and hear stakeholders' views on system operation (including the concepts of system operation and the possible issues and opportunities) and to explore how Network Rail's dashboard could be usefully developed.

Workshop on structure of charges - July 2015

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In our periodic review 2013 (PR13) final determination we committed to working with the industry to conduct a review of Network Rail's structure of charges, which will inform the next periodic review. The structure of charges is the framework within which track access charges are set by the ORR, which are payable by train operating companies.

In December 2014, we published a letter that stated our proposed approach to this work and committed to a formal consultation in the final quarter of 2015. On this page you will find details of the stakeholder workshop we held on this.

We held a workshop on 14 July 2015 to update industry stakeholders on the process we are following to prepare for the formal consultation at the end of the year on the periodic review 2018 (PR18) structure of charges. Slides from this workshop are available:

Reviewing the structure of charges - a discussion with the industry
14 July 2015