Blog

Each year we assess National Highways’ performance against a range of government set targets that it should deliver over the second road period (RP2, which runs from 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2025).

We explain what factors influence changes in the average age of rolling stock.

In the second of our blogs remembering the Ladbroke Grove rail tragedy on 5 October 1999, Ian Maxwell, Head of Train Control Systems at ORR, explains his role in helping revise the signal-sighting standard.

ORR's Giles Turner recalls his experience attending the site of the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail collision, which claimed the lives of 31 people, with many hundreds injured, a few days after the accident.

In the five years between April 2019 to 31 March 2024, Control Period 6, Network Rail spent £67.4 billion (2023-24 prices), to operate, maintain, renew and enhance the national rail infrastructure in Great Britain.

Fatigue at work is a pervasive issue responsible for rail accidents, including the tragedy at Clapham Junction in 1988.

In ORR's latest Annual Rail Health and Safety report, Richard Hines, the new HM Chief Inspector of Railways, says the industry cannot afford to be complacent when faced with the effects of climate change, an increased reliance on maintaining existing infrastructure rather than replacement, and a period of significant change through reform.

As the rail regulator, we have legal duties to contribute to sustainable development, and to consider the railway’s effect on the environment. One of the ways we make sure operators are protecting the environment is through our role in licencing the railway, with a specific environment condition in all railway licences.