The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) today published its annual report for the reporting year 2004-05 providing an overview of its achievements of the past year.
It was a year of considerable change. In July, the Office of the Rail Regulator became the Office of Rail Regulation with Chris Bolt as Chairman, a Chief Executive and four non-executive directors taking over as a statutory board from a single rail regulator. Also in July, the Department for Transport issued the findings of its rail review and published its White Paper The Future of Rail proposing reforms that would transfer responsibility for rail safety regulation to ORR from the Health and Safety Executive, and increase Network Rail’s responsibilities. These changes were incorporated in the Railways Act 2005, which received Royal Assent on 7 April 2005.
Commenting on the annual report, Chris Bolt, Chairman of ORR said:
“This annual report charts very well the diversity of work we have undertaken during the year and will continue to carry out, both through our statutory obligations and duties and because of the unique position we hold in the rail industry. The staff at ORR have worked incredibly hard to support me and the Board over the past year, and we are very grateful to them. “
As well as informing and, in many areas, leading the implementation of the rail review, ORR continued to exercise all the functions required under its jurisdiction. These included monitoring Network Rail’s performance as owner and operator of the national rail network, ensuring the fair and productive use of rail capacity, promoting efficient working relationships between players in the rail industry, and encouraging competitive rail markets by preventing anti-competitive agreements and practices.
Notes for editors
1. Office of Rail Regulation Annual Report 2004–05 is available here
