Office of Rail and Road January 2026 newsletter
6 January 2026
January 2026 Newsletter
As we look back on 2025, it’s clear it was a year of progress for ORR in delivering safer, fairer, and more efficient rail and road services for passengers and freight.
Safety remained central to our work. We concluded major prosecutions, with significant fines for Network Rail following tragic track worker fatalities, reinforcing robust safety standards. Our annual health and safety report and Cost of Benefits and Safety recommendations helped the industry make more cost-effective safety decisions.
We also strengthened accountability, improved consumer outcomes, and supported investment in Britain’s future transport infrastructure. Early in the year, we acted on affordability and fairness, ordering HS1 Ltd to reduce charges for train operators in its next Control Period.
We advised Government on Transport for London’s funding settlements and prepared for a formal monitoring role starting this April.
On the consumer front, we issued our first annual benchmarking report on passenger assistance and opened a licence investigation into Northern Trains’ disability awareness training. In June, we published our review of revenue protection, commissioned by Government, highlighting the need for a fairer, more effective system for passengers, operators, and taxpayers.
2025 also saw us enable growth and connectivity, approving Virgin Trains’ access to Temple Mills International depot—a key step toward expanding cross-border services via the Channel Tunnel. We approved additional services for three open access operators on the East Coast Main Line, while rejecting proposals from three others for the West Coast Main Line.
Train performance remained a priority. In December, we concluded our mid-control reset of Network Rail’s regulatory targets, which we’ll monitor from April 2026. Our streamlined guidance for third-party investment, published in October, will make rail infrastructure investment easier, supporting economic growth.
We also worked with Network Rail to reduce regulatory burdens by 25% and improve efficiency, alongside our annual performance reviews of Network Rail and National Highways, which continue to provide clear benchmarks for accountability.
Finally, we supported Government’s ambitions for rail reform. You can read our briefing on how the Railways Bill now going through Parliament affects us and others in rail.
Thank you to all our stakeholders for your engagement last year. We look forward to working with you in 2026. All reports mentioned are available on our website.
John Larkinson
CEO
Top stories
Rail passenger assistance ranked for the first time
In December we published our first annual benchmarking report on train and station operators’ delivery of passenger assistance. The findings highlight that while passengers are generally satisfied with the standard of assistance when it is delivered, some delivery itself can be unreliable with 11% of passengers reporting that they received none of the assistance they booked in 2024/25. You can read the report here.
London Liverpool Street takes top spot for the third-year running
London Liverpool Street is Great Britain’s busiest railway station for the third year running with almost 100 million entries and exits. The results reflect the continuing impact of the Elizabeth line, which has reshaped travel patterns across London since the central section opened in May 2022. Its services continue to drive high usage at London Liverpool Street, Paddington, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Stratford.
Elton and Orston in Nottinghamshire is once again the least used station with 68 entries and exits.
Meanwhile ORR paid a visit to observe the significant work which has taken place over the holiday period at Liverpool Street in a programme to replace a number of the roof panels, allowing more natural light into the station – transforming the ambience by making it brighter and more comfortable.
The work is also upgrading the rainwater drainage system to reduce potential leaks onto the platforms when there is heavy rain, improving safety and cleanliness.
ORR Chief Executive, John Larkinson announces decision to leave in April 2026
After two decades at ORR and seven years as Chief Executive, John Larkinson has announced his decision to leave ORR at the end of April 2026. The Chair and Board will now start the process of recruiting a successor.
Needless to say, we shall be very sad to see John go. ORR Chair, Declan Collier reflected on his time at ORR: “John has been an outstanding Chief Executive, steering the organisation through the challenges of the last seven years, including recovery from the pandemic and ongoing rail reform. I am personally grateful for his leadership at the Board and commitment to the rail and road industries.”
Blogs
Streamlining our regulatory approach
In this blog, Head of Operations and Network Regulation, Sneha Patel, explains the comprehensive programme underway to streamline our regulatory approach ahead of Great British Railways’ (GBR) introduction, in line with the Chancellor’s commitment to reduce administrative costs and drive economic growth.
Statistics
In December we published the following statistics:
- Estimates of station usage: Annual (2024-25)
- Regional rail usage: Annual (2024-25)
- Signals passed at danger (SPADs): Jul – Sep 2025 (Q2)
- Rail trends (formerly Rail statistics compendium): Annual (2024-25)
- Passenger rail performance: Jul – Sep 2025 (Q2)
- Freight rail usage and performance: Jul – Sep 2025 (Q2)
