The latest edition of the Network Rail Monitor, the quarterly report by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) on Network Rail’s performance, is published today with a companion edition for Scotland.
Bill Emery, Chief Executive of ORR, said:
“Network Rail’s performance has continued to show steady improvement on a number of fronts. There are, however, some detailed aspects – including delays to trains in Scotland – which we are examining more closely.”
The Network Rail Monitor (Great Britain) for the second quarter of 2005–06 (26 June – 17 September 2005) shows:
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Safety: The index of precursors to major train accidents is now at its lowest level for 3 years. However, the previously improving trend in the index has flattened over the last 18 months, as the effect of the introduction of TPWS has passed.
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Train Performance: Overall, the Public Performance Measure (PPM) continued to improve, with punctuality reaching an annual average of 85.1% by the end of the Q2 of 2005-06, compared with 81.8% at the end of the same quarter of 2004-05. Network Rail is currently forecasting an annual total for 2005-06 of 10.5 million minutes compared with a regulatory target of 11.3 million minutes.
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Infrastructure Assets: Network Rail continued to achieve reductions in most categories of asset failures, although at a slower rate, with Q2 figures 7% better than the comparable quarter last year. The exception is in track faults, which as in the previous quarter, remain 11% higher than last year, and ORR is investigating the reason. The Asset Stewardship Index (ASI) also continued to improve and is now beating Network Rail’s year-end target.
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Expenditure: In Q2 Network Rail spent below its budget for the sixth consecutive quarter since the current control period began in April 2004. Over the first half of 2005-06 the company underspent its budget by 11%, mainly on renewals and enhancements.
The Network Rail Monitor (Scotland) for the second quarter of 2005–06 (26 June – 17 September 2005) shows:-
Train Performance: 84.4% of ScotRail trains arrived on or close to time, in the year ending with Q2. Although this figure has improved in recent quarters, it is only the same as the end of Q2 2004-05. This contrasts with network-wide PPM improvement of 3.3% over the same period.
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Infrastructure Assets: Infrastructure failures are showing no sign of improvement this year, in contrast to the network-wide trend.
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Finance: Network Rail in Scotland is spending close to its budget (after discounting the rephasing of track renewals in the West Coast Route Modernisation project).
Notes for editors
1. The Network Rail Monitor (Great Britain) and a commentary is published today.
2. The Network Rail Monitor (Scotland) and a commentary is published today. Railway outputs in Scotland will be funded separately by the Scottish Executive from 1 April 2006.
3. The consultation document Network Rail Monitor is available on the ORR website (related links).
