It is important that ORR’s board has the opportunity to engage with organisations across the country, reflecting the increasingly devolved world that we operate in. This week, the board undertook one of its regular regional meetings, visiting Cardiff and Bristol. This included meeting with Keolis Amey (the consortium responsible for upgrading and running of the Cardiff Valley Lines (CVL) once it is transferred from Network Rail and Transport for Wales) to discuss progress with the CVL project. Board members also visited Network Rail’s training centre at Bristol Parkway and the works planned for Bristol Temple Meads station, as well as Highways England’s Avonmouth Control Centre. These were really valuable in giving the board greater insight into the issues currently faced on the ground and we are grateful to all of our hosts.
Colleagues across the organisation also continue to engage with industry and other stakeholders at conferences and seminars; this week we will have speakers at Rail Infrastructure Association's annual conference and Highways UK, and at the the National Rail Conference next week. We hope to see you at those events.
John Larkinson
Chief Executive
Top stories
Safety
Lanes Group fined £400,000 after worker injured in fall
Earlier this month, Lanes Group PLC were fined £400,000 after a worker was seriously hurt following a fall.
An ORR investigation found that Lanes’ site inspection had been inadequate and failed to realise that using ladders was inappropriate for the task and exposed workers to the risk of falling. Click here to read the statement in full.
20th Anniversary of Ladbroke Grove Railway Accident
The 5th of October marked the 20th anniversary of the Ladbroke Grove railway accident. Two passenger trains collided head on resulting in 31 deaths and over 350 injuries. Following the tragedy, significant changes were made to the way Signals Passed at Danger (SPADs) are managed. Paul Wilkinson, ORR’s corporate correspondence manager was working at the Railway Inspectorate on the day of the accident; he’s written a blog looking back at the day, click here to read in full.
Open for Business: How we approve the right access applications
Any would-be train operator wanting to run trains on the national network must get ORR’s approval of a track access agreement with Network Rail, setting out where and how often they intend to run trains, the charges they will pay and what happens when things go wrong.
David Reed, Senior Manager, Access Policy, writes on how we consider such applications, and how we make decisions on them, click here to read in full.
Statistical releases
This month, we have published stats on:
- Passenger rail usage
- Passenger Rail Service Complaints
- Delay Compensation Claims
- Disabled Persons Railcard (DPRC) and assisted journeys data
Website user satisfaction survey
Thanks you to everyone who contributed to our website survey, which closed last week – we are working through your comments and will feed them into our development plans.
Other news
