Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government by what date they expect fairer charges for open access operators on railways to be introduced by the Office of Rail and Road.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Setting the framework for track access charges is a matter for the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). As the Secretary of State made clear in his Written statement on 17 March, the Government would like to see reforms as soon as possible to ensure a level playing field between operators, and that open access operators pay a fairer contribution to the costs they impose on the network. ORR are considering options as part of their Periodic Review 2018 process, and we consider that any changes to the charging framework could be in place for the start of Control Period 6 in 2019.