Lord Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2016-06-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact that the decision by the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) to allow competition on the East Coast Main Line will have on the reliability and timekeeping of the existing East Coast Main Line franchise and other operators using the railway; and what assessment they have made of the impact the proposed improvements to the infrastructure being made by Network Rail in Control Periods 5 and 6 and the ORR decision on competition will have on the existing standard of performance.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Department for Transport has not itself undertaken an analysis of the effects of the ORR’s decisions on access to the East Coast Main Line on the reliability and performance of services on the route. In correspondence to the ORR ahead of its decision, the Department expressed concern about the potential adverse performance impacts of allowing additional open access operation on the route.

The potential additional capacity which would be provided by the enhancements to the route currently being planned by Network Rail over Control Periods 5 and 6 has been taken into account by the ORR in its decisions on access.

We now look to Network Rail and the relevant train operators to work together through the normal industry processes, under the oversight of the ORR, to ensure that the resulting pattern of services operates as effectively as possible for passengers and freight users of the line, and to ensure that any negative impacts on performance are minimised.