{"id":190206,"date":"2025-01-30T22:47:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?guid=5c72791a890edac842f80ee1fc092cb3"},"modified":"2025-01-30T22:47:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T12:47:57","slug":"office-of-rail-and-road-february-2025-newsletter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=190206","title":{"rendered":"Office of Rail and Road February 2025 newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Office of Rail and Road February 2025 newsletter<\/span>
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Hello and welcome to the February newsletter<\/h2>\n

Hello, and welcome to ORR\u2019s second newsletter of 2025 \u2013 an important and busy year for the ORR highways team! ORR is one of the few regulatory bodies that covers two areas of infrastructure \u2013 railways and roads in our case \u2013 and in April this year, it will have been a decade since Roads Reform which expanded our role beyond rail.<\/p>\n

The Infrastructure Act 2015 gave ORR regulatory and enforcement powers to hold National Highways to account, to ensure that the company manages, operates and improves the strategic road network in England efficiently and effectively on behalf of road users and taxpayers.    <\/p>\n

The end of Road Period 2 (RP2) falls on 31 March 2025, and with it the last opportunity for National Highways to deliver on many of the commitments specified in the Government\u2019s second Roads Investment Strategy (RIS).   <\/p>\n

The conclusion of RP2 means ORR\u2019s annual assessment this year will not just look at National Highways\u2019 performance and delivery in 2024 to 2025 but across the second road period as a whole. Our focus will therefore be to determine if the company has done all that it can reasonably have been expected to in pursuit of achieving its commitments and targets for the period.   <\/p>\n

Last year, we found National Highways to be out of compliance with its licence in respect to providing data and information that ORR may require (licence condition 7.3(e). But since then, we are pleased to see that the company is putting in improvements around providing this, as well as addressing broader findings in our investigation. We are encouraged by National Highways\u2019 progress and have confidence that the actions being taken are on course to remedy the issues we identified.  <\/p>\n

The General Election and subsequent Autumn budget meant decisions by Government, normally published in July, which were needed to allow National Highways to finalise its Delivery Plan Update for 2024 to 2025, were delayed. Despite these difficult circumstances, National Highways continues to deliver. We continue to work with the company to ensure that we are still able to hold it to account in a fair and effective way while outstanding decisions are finalised.  <\/p>\n

The end of the road period also provides a good opportunity to look at National Highways effectiveness’ in stakeholder engagement. Therefore, this February we are sending out surveys to National Highways\u2019 stakeholders to understand their views on how they feel the company engages with them. The results will help determine whether National Highways is meeting its licence conditions in relation to stakeholder engagement and advise on any improvements if necessary.   <\/p>\n

I hope National Highways stakeholders will be able to respond \u2013 it is important that ORR understands the views of others and we take this into account in performing our duty.  <\/p>\n

While we will continue to focus on holding National Highways to account to deliver its Road Period 2 commitments and targets, we are also advising and delivering on other important aspects of roads work for the Department of Transport.<\/p>\n

March will see the publication of our third annual assessment of safety performance on the English strategic road network. This will provide an update on National Highways’ progress against RIS2 safety key performance indicators, as well as progress against the Transport Select Committee\u2019s recommendations: 4 \u2013 assessing the effectiveness of smart motorways, and recommendation 6 \u2013 evaluating the effectiveness of the action plan to reduce the frequency and duration of live lane incidents.  <\/p>\n

And finally, following the announcement in the Autumn budget, which delayed the third Road Investment Strategy, we have been advising on the deliverability and affordability of National Highways’ plans for next year as the Department seeks to finalise an Interim Settlement for 2025 to 2026.<\/p>\n

Rachel Gittens<\/strong>
Deputy Director, Strategic Road Network  <\/p>\n

Top stories<\/h2>\n

Call for evidence: review of revenue protection policies<\/h3>\n

In last month\u2019s newsletter we asked for your views on the use of penalty fares, as part of our independent review of train operators\u2019 revenue protection practices. The deadline for this call for evidence<\/a> was extended from 17 January to 31 January. There\u2019s still just time to respond if you and your networks are able to.  <\/p>\n

Over 70 rail leaders discuss stranded trains <\/h3>\n
Working with Transport Focus, we brought together over 70 senior leaders from across the rail industry on 15 January to collaborate on work to improve passenger welfare when a train is stranded between stations. This follows a number of high profile strandings in 2024. <\/div>\n
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The Birmingham event heard from industry colleagues on the ongoing work to review, update and test processes and plans for helping passengers and keeping them safe during these incidents. We were greatly encouraged by the level of engagement and enthusiasm evident across the day. ORR, with Transport Focus, will now work further with the rail industry to ensure attention is maintained on this vital area of ongoing work. <\/div>\n

Updated safety guidelines for duty holders<\/h3>\n
Following the Health and Safety Executive\u2019s post implementation review of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR), we have produced an updated version of our RIDDOR Guidance document<\/a> and our online RIDDOR reporting form<\/a>. These changes are minor and administrative in nature. <\/div>\n

Podcasts<\/h2>\n

Balancing the costs and benefits of health and safety improvements on the railway<\/h3>\n
The Rail and Road Pod Episode 25: Balancing the costs and benefits of health and safety improvements on the railway<\/a> podcast went live on 9 January.  <\/div>\n

Blog<\/h2>\n

Updated RIDDOR guidance for dutyholders<\/h3>\n
Sarah Edmunds, ORR\u2019s Senior Policy Adviser, Rail Safety, has published a blog explaining what the main changes are to our updated Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) guidance<\/a> following the Health and Safety Executive\u2019s post-implementation review of RIDDOR<\/a>.<\/div>\n

Statistics<\/h2>\n