News - Orr
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Themes ScotRail Network Rail Footbridge Pitlochry Timetable ORR New Year East Linton Elizabeth Line Station Statistics Weather Snow Northern Far North Line Power cut Ayr Delny Level Crossing Greenock Ayr Station Hotel Christmas Bridge strike Electrification Glasgow District Subway Anti-social behaviour Carlisle
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Seven Highland railway stations are among the 20 least used in the whole of the UK, new figures have revealed.
(Permalink) ORR Station Statistics |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today revealed that London Liverpool Street has replaced London Waterloo as the most used railway station in Great Britain. The opening of the Elizabeth line was a principal contributing factor in the almost 80.4 million entries and exits to Liverpool Street between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, an increase of around 50 million.
(Permalink) Elizabeth Line ORR Station Statistics |
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A pair of railway stations in Caithness and Sutherland are among the 10 least used in the whole of Great Britain, new figures have revealed.
(Permalink) ORR Station Statistics |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today set out its final determination of Network Rail Scotland's £4.6bn plan to deliver a safe and customer focused railway in the five years from April 2024, known as Control Period 7 (CP7).
(Permalink) CP7 Network Rail ORR |
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Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 (ROGS). All railways need to comply with ROGS, although some transport systems, including minor and heritage operations, can be excluded from what is required of their mainline counterparts. However, every railway is expected to have a Safety Management System (SMS) and the new guidance published provides a summary of the ROGS requirements for SMS and how minor and heritage dutyholders may apply these to their own railways.
(Permalink) ORR ROGS SMS |
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At the Central Criminal Court (the Old Bailey) in London, Transport for London (TfL) and Tram Operations Limited (TOL) have today been fined a total of £14m after pleading guilty to offences under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which followed an investigation and prosecution by industry regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
(Permalink) Croydon Trams ORR Tram Operations Limited Transport for London |
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The Office of Rail and Roads annual assessment of Network Rail shows that the company delivered just 69% of planned work.
(Permalink) Network Rail Network Rail Scotland ORR |
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In its quarterly review, the Office of Rail and Road has revealed statistics highlighting the impact of the UKs economic position on freight rail usage and performance from January to March 2023. The data indicates a significant decrease in freight moved, dropping by seven per cent compared to the previous year.
(Permalink) Coal ORR Railfreight |
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Railway stations are commercially attractive locations for retailers. Conservative estimates suggests that passenger spending is well in excess of 1 billion per annum and, as rail passenger numbers recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we expect this to be reflected in footfall at rail station retail outlets.
(Permalink) ORR |
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West Coast Railway Company Limited have failed to ensure the health and safety of their passengers and crew, thus putting them at risk of serious personal injury, as they have not implemented controls identified in their risk assessment for rolling stock fitted with secondary door locking system. Public register ID: P/KB/14062023
(Permalink) ORR ORR Prohibition notices The Jacobite West Coast Railway Company Limited |
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ORR has today written to Network Rail over concerns about a backlog in examining the condition of its railway structures such as bridges, tunnels and culverts. This is an important issue. If Network Rail does not complete the overall examination process at the required intervals, faults could be undetected (or detected but not assessed). In some cases this could lead to a safety issue. It can also result in speed restrictions being put in place to mitigate the safety risk, meaning trains dont run on time.
(Permalink) Bridges Culverts Network Rail ORR Railway structures Safety Tunnels |
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Railway signalling systems are fundamental to the safe and efficient operation of modern railways. They direct traffic and keep trains apart to prevent collisions.We published our signalling market study in November 2021. We found a number of ways in which competition, and hence value for money, was being stifled, with the cost of upgrading and renewing signalling equipment rising overall.
(Permalink) ORR Signalling |
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The policy explains how we will hold Network Rail to account against the requirements in their network licence and the final determination we will make as part of our 2023 Periodic Review (PR23). What's changing? This updates our previous policy and while we've not made that many changes we've taken the opportunity to clarify wording and reflected new approaches for CP7 ...
(Permalink) Network Rail ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road has today written to the rail industry outlining the need to change how they record pre-cancellations and to introduce a more passenger-friendly and transparent way of working when making late changes to services. Train cancellations are at record levels, and an ORR investigation confirmed a further gap between cancellations statistics and the passenger experience. This was driven by an increased number of unrecorded pre-cancellations. Such pre-cancellations (via a process known as p-coding') can be confirmed as late as 22:00 the previous evening and are not included in the timetables that railway performance statistics are measured against.
(Permalink) Cancellations ORR |
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Mr Mark Andrew Hubble has been found guilty of breaching Section 7a of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, following a prosecution brought by the Office of Rail and Road.
(Permalink) Bromsgrove ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has opened up the Great Western Main Line to competition and enabled a significant increase in rail services between London and South Wales. The rail regulator has approved the introduction of new train services between London, Cardiff and South West Wales from the end of 2024. The services will be operated by a new open access operator, Grand Union Trains, bringing competition to the Great Western route out of Paddington. Passengers travelling between London, Bristol Parkway, Severn Tunnel Junction, Newport, Cardiff, Gowerton, Llanelli and Carmarthen will benefit from an extra five daily return services and greater choice of operator. The decision opens up the Great Western Main Line to competition for the first time, with potential benefits in terms of lower fares, improved service quality and innovation for all passengers using the route. The application, submitted to ORR in June 2022, was disputed by Network Rail due to concerns about capacity on the network. But following careful consideration and analysis, ORR has directed Network Rail to enter into a contract with Grand Union. Grand Union has committed to significant investment in new trains. As an open access train operator, however, it will not get paid subsidies from public funds, unlike current operators along the route.
(Permalink) Bristol Parkway Cardiff Carmarthen Gowerton Grand Union Great Western Railway Main Line Llanelli London Newport ORR Severn Tunnel Junction |
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The precarious funding structure of the network and franchisees were laid by the Office for Rail and Road revealed that taxpayers pumped in £13.3billion in the year to March.
(Permalink) Franchises ORR Subsidy |
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The least-used railway station in Britain saw only 40 journeys in a year. There are no ticket-buying facilities, toilets or waiting room at Elton and Orston in rural Nottinghamshire.
(Permalink) Elton and Orston ORR Station Statistics  Elton and Orston: The view west to Nottingham at Elton and Orston. The station is located on the Nottingham to Grantham/Sleaford line. Facilities include platforms (the eastbound being considerably longer), waiting she ...  Elton and Orston: The view east at Elton and Orston showing the crossing between the platforms. There was a goods yard on the right hand side and a signal box on the left. The main station building, long gone, was on t ... |
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Passenger numbers at Scotland's busiest station bounced back in the year to March as Covid restrictions eased but they remained at less than half of pre-pandemic levels, new figures showed.
(Permalink) COVID-19 Glasgow Central ORR Scotscalder Station statistics  Scotscalder: Final preparations are being made for the trial of a request-stop kiosk at Scotscalder on the Far North Line. The new equipment at Scotscalder will go live on trial from 15 August 2022.  Glasgow Central: The large, open, bright and airy space of the Glasgow Central concourse. |
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London Waterloo is top of the stops again, but overall numbers are down on pre-pandemic levels. London Waterloo regained its status as the most used railway station although its total number of passenger entries and exits is less than half of the number from two years ago (April 2019 to March 2020). The numbers are revealed in the Office of Rail and Roads (ORR) estimates of station usage statistics for the year April 2021 to March 2022, which include the annual total of passenger entries and exits at each of the 2,570 stations in Britain. After a 16-year reign, London Waterloo was knocked off the top by Stratford (London) last year (April 2020 to March 2021), but it finds itself back in pole position following 41.4 million passenger entries and exits in the latest year (April 2021 and March 2022). However, that total is some way short of the estimate of 86.9 million from two years ago.
(Permalink) Elton and Orston London Waterloo ORR Station statistics  Waterloo: View south east over Waterloo Station in August 2009 from the London Eye.  Waterloo: Part of the concourse at Waterloo in July 2005 showing the pedestrian link to Waterloo East station. |
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The most used station served over 40 million passengers. The least used only recorded 40.
(Permalink) Elton and Orston London Waterloo ORR Station statistics |
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Rail passenger numbers in the far north are still substantially lower than prior to the pandemic - despite a big bounce since the height of lockdown.
(Permalink) Far North Line ORR Station statistics |
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ORR stats reveal the oldest train fleets in Great Britain. Each year we publish statistics on the average age of rolling stock for each rail operator in Great Britain. The national railway fleet is comprised of around 15,300 vehicles, with 99% used by franchised operators and 1% used by non-franchised operators. Some of the oldest vehicles are the electric Class 313 vehicles, which first entered service in 1976 and are still in use. Merseyrail has run electric Class 507 trains since they first started operating passenger services, and these were built between 1978 and 1980. The newest vehicles were built in the last two years, such as Greater Anglia's new Class 720 trains and the latest operator Lumo runs Class 803 AT300 trains. In the current fleet, around three-quarters of the vehicles have been built since privatisation (1997) and just 3% were built before 1980. Over a third have been built in the last 10 years, with 2% built since the start of 2020. The average age for franchised operators has fallen from 19.7 years in March 2018, to 16.9 years in the most recent year (as of 31 March 2022). Over time some older fleets have been refurbished to increase capacity, and also to meet new accessibility standards. For non-franchised operators, the average age has fallen substantially from 17.4 years in March 2018 to 9.5 years in the latest year. All of the current rolling stock for the four non-franchised operators were built from 2000 onwards. In the latest year, Lumo had the lowest average age of 0.8 years, whilst Merseyrail had the oldest fleet with an average age of 42.6 years.
(Permalink) Greater Anglia Merseyrail ORR Train age |
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The regulator finds fewer trains are arriving on time and an increase in cancellations compared to the start of this financial year. The percentage of trains arriving on time at stations was 70.2% in September 2022, compared to 72.6% in April 2022. National freight performance is also at its lowest point for the last five years. ORR recognises that factors such as extreme weather, issues with train company staffing and industrial action have impacted the network beyond Network Rail's control.
(Permalink) Network Rail ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has authorised Bond Street Elizabeth line station for passenger use from Monday 24 October. This underground Elizabeth line station interconnects with the existing Central and Jubilee line stations and is the final piece of London's Elizabeth line to be completed. It will be operated by London Underground. ORR has approved all trains, stations, and infrastructure on the Elizabeth line as rail regulator and safety authority. Bond Street station had previously been given the go-ahead to operate safe evacuation procedures, but this final authorisation now confirms the station and infrastructure meets the requirements for passenger use. It is the tenth and final new station to be given the green light by ORR, joining Abbey Wood, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel and Woolwich stations.
(Permalink) Bond Street ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has gained assurances from train operator, Avanti West Coast that it will return to providing timetables at least 6 weeks in advance of travel.
(Permalink) Avanti West Coast ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today published its annual assessment of Network Rail's efficiency and wider financial performance for 2021-2022, alongside the findings of a review into employment costs in the rail industry.
ORR found the infrastructure managers delivery of efficiencies remains good, with Network Rail reporting £840 million of efficiency improvements for the year, ahead of its £830 million target. Network Rail has now delivered £1.9 billion of efficiency improvements across the first three years of Control Period 6 (2019-2024). (Permalink) Network Rail ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) ensures that our railways are safely regulated. And with the railway becoming more digitised, cyber security has gained an increasingly prominent role in discussions around rail safety. In July 2021, a cyber-attack targeted Northern trains ticket machines. These ticket machines cost £17 million to install. But shortly after installation, a ransomware attack meant they were offline for a week.
(Permalink) ORR |
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3.6% of planned trains cancelled or part-cancelled in year to 23 July, and more strikes due this week. Britain's trains have had their least reliable year since records began [these records only began in 2015! -RS], data has revealed, as it emerged that only a fifth of services will operate on Thursday and Saturday due to the latest rail strikes. The figures show that 3.6% of planned trains were cancelled or part-cancelled in the 12 months to 23 July, according to analysis of Office of Rail and Road data by PA Media.
(Permalink) ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the autonomous government safety and performance watchdog, has assessed Network Rail Scotland as part of a nationwide review. The annual report card is not good reading for the parents, which in this case are now the Scottish government. The report shows train service performance was mixed and its ...
(Permalink) ORR Railfreight |
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ORRs assessment of Network Rail Scotland shows train service performance was mixed and its annual efficiency target was missed. The Office of Rail and Roads (ORR) annual assessment of Network Rail Scotland (April 2021 to March 2022) shows it has been a challenging year for the region with missed efficiency targets and mixed train service performance. In the report, the rail regulator raises concerns about Network Rail Scotland's delivery of efficiencies. The region missed its efficiency target for the year, delivering around £64 million of efficiencies against a target of £82 million, representing a 21% shortfall. In comparison, most of Network Rail's other regions exceeded their efficiency targets for the year.
(Permalink) Network Rail Network Rail Scotland ORR |
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ORR assesses that Network Rail is delivering more efficiently but calls for sustained focus in continuing to address recommendations made following the fatal derailment at Carmont.
(Permalink) Carmont Network Rail ORR |
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The current consumer redress and dispute resolution scheme was established in November 2018 by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) on behalf of train companies. ORR will take over responsibility from RDG for sponsoring the Rail Ombudsman, as proposed in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, reinforcing the schemes independence.
(Permalink) ORR Rail Ombudsman |
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More than double the number of rail journeys were made by passengers between April 2021 and March 2022 compared to the number of those made during the pandemic in the previous year.
(Permalink) ORR Statistics |
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As Britain's rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road plays a vital role in improving the passenger experience in compensation, passenger information and accessibility.
(Permalink) Accessibility Compensation ORR Rights |
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ORRs analysis found that Britain ranks first for whole society safety risk, which combines the overall average of number fatalities and serious injuries across five risk categories for passenger, employee, level crossing user, trespasser, and other risks. For passenger safety risk, ORR reports that Britain ranks eighth overall but performs favourably in comparison to other European countries against similarly large railway networks. For employee safety risk, Britain is third when compared to other European countries. The only countries with a lower average number were Ireland and Finland, which have considerably smaller rail networks. Britain was also third for level crossing user safety risk; the only countries with a lower average number were Ireland and Switzerland. For trespasser safety risk, Britain is fourth compared with other European countries behind Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Slovenia.
(Permalink) ORR Safety |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has issued approvals for all the Elizabeth line stations with the exception of Bond Street confirming the stations and infrastructure meet the requirements for passenger use. Abbey Wood, Canary Wharf, Custom House, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Whitechapel and Woolwich stations have all been given the green light and issued with authorisations. Bond Street has been given the go-ahead for safe evacuation procedures only, as it will open for passengers later than the rest of the line. ORR has also authorised the overall routeway for the Elizabeth lines track and tunnel infrastructure, to allow trains to run through the central section.
(Permalink) Elizabeth Line ORR |
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Network Rail has been fined £1.4 million for a health and safety breach after an investigation by the Office of Rail and Road. ORR found failings that led to a worker being crushed between the conveyor of a 25 tonne Superboss ballast distributor and Kubota people carrier.
(Permalink) Network Rail ORR |
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Among the recommendations to mitigate landslip risk made in the ORR report on Stonehaven, is the greater use of monitoring technologies. A number of solutions are in the mix, including InSAR, LiDAR and CCTV. However, the technology that has seen the most significant adoption in the last two years is wireless remote condition monitoring, which ...
(Permalink) Landslip ORR Remote sensing |
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Following an Office of Rail and Road (ORR) study on the state of the railway signalling market, the rail regulator has today published Network Rails response to increase competitiveness and lower costs in the market.
(Permalink) Network Rail ORR Signalling |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the economic and safety regulator of Britains railway, has made several recommendations from its review of how the rail industry responded to the potential safety issues leading to the withdrawal of Hitachi Rails Class 800 series trains in May last year.
(Permalink) Class 800 ORR  Margam Halt: Nice day in Wales and couldn't resist another few shots of 5X20.
5X20 made up of 2 x IEP Class 800's the leading set in GWR livery passing the site of Margam Halt with a Bristol Parkway to Swansea ...  Didcot Parkway: The new Class 800's are now out and about, some on crew training and others on passenger duty in the GWR livery. I assume they are now giving a full rake of vehicles one nmber as on this unit, seen he ... |
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New licence requirements on train companies, set out in a code of practice, require them to provide passengers with clear information both before and during their journey about their entitlements to compensation when there are delays. Train companies must now also improve how they process claims for compensation for train delays, and publish data on how well they are meeting these obligations. From today:Clear and accurate information must be provided to passengers on their rights to claim delay compensation during the booking stage, online and in stations.
(Permalink) Delay compensation ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is prosecuting Transport for London, Tram Operations Limited and tram driver Alfred Dorris following a detailed and thorough investigation into the fatal Sandilands tram derailment in November 2016. ORRs prosecution is for breaches of health and safety law. Transport for London (TfL) is alleged by ORR to have failed to ensure the health and safety of passengers on the Croydon Tramlink network, so far as reasonably practicable. Tram Operations Limited, which runs the tram service on TfLs behalf, is also alleged to have failed to ensure the health and safety of passengers on the network, so far as reasonably practicable.
(Permalink) Croydon Tramlink Derailment ORR Sandilands [Tram] TfL |
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Passenger rail journeys increased to 285 million in total across October to December 2021 in Britain - the highest since January to March 2020 - according to new official figures from the Office of Rail and Road, published today.
(Permalink) ORR Passenger numbers Statistics |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today called on train ticket retailers to reflect the actual costs incurred when charging administration fees on train ticket refunds. Although the current cap on admin fees is set at £10, ORR has found that on average the actual costs of processing refunds amount to less than £5.
(Permalink) Administrative fees ORR Office of Rail and Road Refunds Ticketing |
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ORR publishes a wide range of official statistics, which are important in providing independent and transparent data on the state of Britains railway. These are all available on our data portal.
Our statistics provide trusted and transparent information to help inform debate and enable people/organisations to make decisions and to develop insight based on high-quality data. (Permalink) ORR Statistics |
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Train passenger journeys across Britain's railway in the summer increased by more than a third (36%) in July to September 2021, with 248 million people travelling by rail compared to 182 million in the first quarter of 2021-22.
(Permalink) COVID-19 ORR Statistics |
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The licence condition requires train companies to comply with a new Delay Compensation Code of Practice which provides passengers with clear information about their entitlements to compensation both before and during their journey. Train companies will also have to improve the way they process claims for compensation as a result of train delays, and publish data on how well they are meeting these obligations. From April 2022:A simplified claims process must be in place to make it easy for passengers to submit claims for delay compensation.
(Permalink) Delay Compensation Code of Practice ORR |
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We're discussing disability awareness and equality training that forms an integral part of the requirements set out in the Office of Rail and Roads Accessible Travel Policy Guidance. In this year alone, tens of thousands of railway staff have undertaken the training that is designed to help with understanding disabled peoples needs, allowing staff to communicate more effectively with disabled passengers, to understand the challenges they may face when travelling and to refresh their knowledge and skills to provide any assistance needed.
(Permalink) Accessability Disability ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today published its Rail Industry Finance (UK) 2020-21 report. The report shows the income, expenditure, and government funding of the UK rail industry for the financial year 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021. The rail industry in 2020-21 was substantially affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Passenger journeys fell to historically low levels and the government used emergency measures to keep train services running, which led to a large increase in train operator subsidy. The rail industry has started to recover from the impact of the pandemic. In 2021-22 Q1 (April to June 2021) 182 million rail passenger journeys were made in Great Britain, more than five times the 35 million journeys made in 2020-21 Q1.
(Permalink) COVID-19 Finance report ORR |
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Figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) showed it was one of six UK stations completely deserted during the pandemic
(Permalink) Beasdale ORR Passenger numbers  Beasdale: Beasdale, not long after the station building was re-built. Looking east. |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is calling for Network Rail to take action to retain a railway which more reflects the train service performance improvements seen over the pandemic, as more passengers return to the railway. While performance currently remains better than before the pandemic, it declined over the last six months as passenger numbers more than doubled and train services increased, but with regional variations. Network Rail's Wales and Western region showed the largest deterioration in train service performance from the end of 2020/21.
(Permalink) Network Rail ORR |
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Improved planning, monitoring and delivery of possessions is essential in not only reducing disruption to passengers, but also in reducing costs. [See ORR Announcement of the 14th below. -RS]
(Permalink) Engineering works Network Rail ORR |
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An Office of Rail and Road (ORR) review commissioned into how Network Rail (NR) plans for and delivers engineering works has found that while there have been some recent improvements, further work is required to minimise disruption to passengers and ensure public money is spent appropriately.
(Permalink) Engineering works Network Rail ORR |
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On this, the second episode focusing on heritage railways, the Rail and Road Pod visits Aln Valley Railway in Northumberland to continue the discussion on how ORR and the heritage sector are collaborating to maximise safety.
(Permalink) Aln Valley Railway Heritage Railways ORR |
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Today's figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) show that rail travel started to rebound between April and June 2021, following the gradual easing of government COVID-19 restrictions.
(Permalink) COVID-19 Estimates of Station Usage 2020-2021 ORR ORR Station Statistics Passengers Statistics |
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'Be aware of your surroundings and use level crossings safely' is the warning issued today by HM Chief Inspector of Railways following the release of rail safety statistics by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Five deaths occurred at level crossings in Britain in 2020-21, up from two in the previous year, and this figure could have been much worse with a sharp increase in near misses with pedestrians also being recorded. Statistics published today by the rail regulator show 342 people were nearly hit by oncoming trains in 2020-21 - the highest level of near misses with pedestrians at crossings level since records began in 2002/03.
(Permalink) Level crossings ORR Safety |
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The amount of freight moved across Britain's railway has returned to pre-pandemic levels according to statistics published by the Office of Rail and Road today. The regulator's Freight Rail Usage and Performance stats show that in the first quarter of this year (April to June 2021) a total of 4.33 billion net tonne-kilometres of rail freight was moved across the network. This is an increase of 36.5% on the same quarter last year (2020-21 Q1), and an increase by 1.3% compared with the same quarter two years ago (2019-20 Q1).
(Permalink) ORR Rail freight |
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A total of 234 rail industry stakeholders helped shape today's report published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) through sharing their experiences on the quality of Network Rail's engagement. Findings show significant improvements in 2020-21, despite the challenging context of COVID-19, with a majority rating NetworkRail's engagement as good or very good (73%).
(Permalink) Network Rail ORR |
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An investigation said a type of aluminium used under some of the trains may have been vulnerable to being damaged by 'salt-containing' substances. The cracks caused weeks of travel chaos.
(Permalink) Class 385 Class 800 Cracks Fatigue Cracks ORR  Port Talbot Parkway: GWR Class 800 Electro-diesel set 800011 on the rear of the 1029 Swansea to London Paddington service departing Port Talbot on 16th November 2017
Margam Halt: Nice day in Wales and couldn't resist another few shots of 5X20.
5X20 made up of 2 x IEP Class 800's the leading set in GWR livery passing the site of Margam Halt with a Bristol Parkway to Swansea ... |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) today reports in its interim review that Hitachis Class 800 and 385 series trains were affected by stress corrosion and fatigue cracks. These resulted in a significant number of Class 800 trains being withdrawn from service in May.
(Permalink) Class 385 Class 800 Cracks Fatigue Cracks ORR |
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The recent fine handed down to Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) operator, WH Malcolm Limited, was one of the largest ever for a health and safety offence on the railway. Why did the ORR prosecute them?
(Permalink) ORR WH Malcolm |
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WH Malcom Limited, operators of Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal near Rugby, has been fined £6.5m after being found guilty of negligence over the death of an 11-year-old boy in 2017.
Harrison Ballantyne died in June 2017 when he easily gained access to the depot with his friends to retrieve a football and was able to climb on top of a stationary freight wagon, where he received a fatal electric shock from the overhead line. (Permalink) Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal Fatality ORR WH Malcom Limited |
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The Office of Rail and Road has today launched the process for determining the funding needed for Britains rail network from 2024-2029. The process, known as the 2023 Periodic Review (PR23), sets a five-year settlement that will determine the level of funding the infrastructure owner (Network Rail/Great British Railways) should receive for its operation, maintenance and renewals activities and what, in return, it should be required to deliver from this over five years from April 2024, known as Control Period 7 (CP7).
(Permalink) Control Period 7 ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road is undertaking a review to understand the lessons the industry can learn from the discovery of cracks on Hitachi Class 800 and 385 series trains.
(Permalink) Class 385 Class 800 ORR  Oxford: Two GWR Class 800 IEPs, 800-028 and 802-003, in Oxford station on 6th August 2019.
 Camelon: If it were human, only a mother could love it. A Class 385 pulls into Camelon with a Glasgow to Edinburgh service on 6 June 2019. |
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Rail passenger journeys in Great Britain fell to the lowest levels of annual passenger usage since at least before 1872, according to official statistics from the Office of Rail and Road. Nationally, 388 million journeys were made in 2020-21 (April to March), which equates to only 22% of the 1,739 million made in 2019-20. Total passenger revenue in Great Britain was £1.9 billion in 2020-21, compared to £10.4 billion in 2019-20. There were 80 million journeys made during the final quarter (Q4 January to March) of 2020-21, down from the 139 million made in the previous quarter (Q3 October to December) and the 133 million in Q2 (July to September). This was still more than double the 35 million journeys made in 2020-21 Q1 (April to June). This unprecedented fall in usage can be attributed entirely to the impact of the pandemic.
(Permalink) ORR |
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Tyne Wear Metro operator, Nexus, has been fined £1.5 million today after pleading guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974., for failing to ensure the safety of staff.
(Permalink) Fine Nexus ORR Tyne and Wear Metro |
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A total of 140 million rail journeys were made in Great Britain in October, November and December 2020 and season ticket usage by passengers increased to 23% of pre-Covid levels, according to official statistics by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
(Permalink) ORR Office of Rail and Road |
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Glasgow Central remains the busiest station in Scotland with almost 33 million passenger entries and exits in the last year, figures published today by the Office of Rail and Road reveal.
Edinburgh (23,087,646), Glasgow Queen Street (16,685,760), Paisley Gilmour Street (3,903,776) and Haymarket (2,980,386) stations made up the remainder of the top five most used stations in Scotland. [Railscot note: ORR comments that the reference period for the estimates runs from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. The ORR has also provided data for 1 April 2019 to February 2020.] (Permalink) Glasgow CentralEdinburgh Waverley Glasgow Queen Street Haymarket ORR Office of Rail and Road Paisley Gilmour Street Station statistics  Edinburgh Waverley: Plenty of takers for the 0752 LNER Aberdeen - Kings Cross HST, seen here arriving at Waverley platform 19 on 21 November 2019. Glasgow Central: The large, open, bright and airy space of the Glasgow Central concourse.  Glasgow Queen Street High Level: Passengers arriving at Queen Street Station on 24th September 2019, presented with a view of Glasgow's fine architecture through the new facade.
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Britain's least used railway station has been revealed as Berney Arms in Norfolk, which served just 42 passengers last year.The station, a request stop consisting of one short platform, a name plate and a tiny wooden shelter, is 30 minutes along a single-track line from Norwich to Great Yarmouth, and named after a local pub that closed several years ago. Situated in protected marshland near the River Yare and some way from the nearest main road, it is normally only accessible on foot.
(Permalink) Berney Arms ORR Office of Rail and Road Station statistics  Berney Arms: One of the most remote stations in England has to be Berney Arms on the former Yarmouth & Norwich line in the midst of the Norfolk Broads. The short-platform request stop has no road access and is oth ... |
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Glasgow Central remains Scotland's busiest railway station with almost 33 million passenger entries and exits in the last year, according to figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).
(Permalink) ORR Office of Rail and Road Station statistics |
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Following an investigation by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Scotlands Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has prosecuted Network Rail for allowing trains to travel at more than 100mph over a badly storm damaged viaduct.
(Permalink) Lamington Viaduct ORR |
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The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today opened a market study into the supply of rail signalling systems to ensure the signalling supply chain is fair and competitive.
(Permalink) ORR Signalling |
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Statement from the Office of Rail and Road's HM Chief Inspector of Railways Ian Prosser CBE.
(Permalink) ORR Sheffield Sheffield derailment |
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The Office of Rail and Roads new accessible travel guidance has been published today. This sees new rules for train operators to maximise the use of available buses and coaches by disabled passengers during rail disruption. There is also requirement for improved information so passengers know where and when accessible vehicles will be operated.
(Permalink) Accessible travel guidance Disabled passengers ORR |
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More needs to be done to tackle the impacts of climate change on the railway, which has seen risks increase over the last year, according to a new report published by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) today (14 July).
(Permalink) Carmont Climate change Flood Landslide ORR Stonehaven derailment |
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The number of passenger journeys on Great Britain's railways increased by 5.1% last year, continuing rails long-term increase, new figures have revealed.
The ORRs new report on regional rail usage revealed that 1,464 million passenger journeys were made across Great Britain in 2015-16 more than double the figure declared in 1995-96. All regions except Scotland saw an overall annual increase of 3% in journeys to or from other regions, with Scotland's figures falling slightly due to exceptional growth during Glasgow's Commonwealth Games in 2014. The same overall increase applied to journeys within regions which all saw an annual rise of 6.1% to 996.5 million last year, with only the North East showing a mild decline. With the highest number of total journeys over 934.6 million, London was unsurprisingly the largest contributor to the overall change as over 11 million more journeys travelled to/from the capital last year (397.2 million), with journeys within London also increasing by 9.2% (537.4 million). (Permalink) Commonwealth Games ORR |
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