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Archive
1997-06-26 ORR-001
Office of the Rail Regulator
Joint statement issued by the Rail Regulator and Railtrack
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Press release
Office of the Rail Regulator
Joint statement issued by the Rail Regulator and Railtrack
At a meeting held today at the Office of the Rail Regulator, which the Regulator, John Swift QC, and Sir Robert Horton both described as constructive, Railtrack confirmed its agreement to work with the Regulator to produce a mutually agreed licence amendment which would give effect to its public accountability as the owner of the nation's railway infrastructure. In the course of the meeting, the Regulator explained the concerns which had led him to conclude that a modification to Railtrack's licence was necessary. Sir Robert accepted that Railtrack should be publicly accountable for its network management plans and for the delivery of output measures to be agreed between the Regulator and Railtrack and that there should be powers of enforcement should it fail to deliver those plans for no good reason.
Railtrack has also accepted that the means of enforcement should be through a mutually agreed licence amendment which would give the independent Regulator the necessary locus to ensure Railtrack's delivery of those plans. The Regulator gave an assurance to Railtrack that the licence amendment would not lead to more bureaucracy, would not lead to the substitution of the Regulator's commercial judgement for that of the Board of Railtrack in the formulation and delivery of an improved infrastructure, and would certainly not deprive Railtrack of flexibility in responding to the needs of the train operators and other customers, including Government, PTEs and local authorities, and the Metropolitan Passenger Transport Authorities ('PTAs'). The Regulator and Railtrack confirmed that each side would now give, as a matter of urgency, a high level commitment to ensuring that any licence amendment to be agreed would properly address the public interest issues of accountability without prejudicing Railtrack's own ability to develop and implement its own investment programme.
Railnews Archive ::: 1997-06-26 ORR-001
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