Chronology of relevant events and supporting information
| Date | 10 June 2008 |
| Section | EWS Regulation 29 appeal regarding HS1 |
Annex 1
Chronology of relevant events and supporting information
2006 - EWS became concerned over the lack of a charging system and tariff of charges
for rail freight using HS1 but had hoped that these issues would be clarified in the
Network Statement for HS1.
20 November 2006 - NR (CTRL) issued the HS1 Network Statement which was to take
effect from 27 November 2006 (see attachment 1). Upon examination, not only were
there no charges for rail freight specified in the document, EWS was also concerned over
a number of other aspects relating to the charging system.
11 January 2007 - EWS responded to NR (CTRL) with its comments on the entirety of
the Network Statement including its concerns and disappointment that it was no nearer to
understanding the level and structure of rail freight charges on HS1 (see attachment 2).
2 February 2007 - NR (CTRL) replied to EWS’s 11 January 2007 letter. NR (CTRL)
thanked EWS for its comments which it was still considering and stated that it would
respond in detail on the issues that EWS had raised on the HS1 Network Statement in
the near future (see attachment 3).
January to March 2007 - EWS had meetings with NR (CTRL) Limited on 29 January, 19
February and 20 March 2007 to discuss a range of issues concerning HS1, including the
putting in place of a long-term framework agreement for the operation of rail freight
services. As can be seen from the draft Heads of Terms for this agreement (see
attachment 4), NR (CTRL) informed EWS that it was still reviewing its freight charging
regime so was still unable to provide any further information at that stage. In addition, the
notes of the EWS/NR (CTRL) 29 January 2007 meeting also show that discussions
concerning the charging regime took place (see attachment 5).
2 March 2007 - As it was now over three months since the issue of the HS1 Network
Statement, EWS wrote a further letter to NR (CTRL)) expressing its continuing concern
and disappointment that there was still no visibility of the charges NR(CTRL) proposes to
levy on freight services using HS1 (see attachment 6).
w/c 5 March 2007 - NR (CTRL) gave a presentation to Rail Freight Group members on its
proposed charging regime for rail freight services using HS1 (see attachment 7). At this
presentation, NR (CTRL) advised that its usage charges for a typical rail freight service
would be more than twice the amount levied by Network Rail on the UK domestic
network (i.e. £9 per mile compared to £4 per mile). In addition, NR (CTRL) advised that it
was in the process of determining a suitable ‘mark-up’ on the rail freight usage charge.
14 March 2007 - EWS received an e-mail from NR (CTRL) containing its responses to
certain questions posed at the RFG presentation the previous week. Attached to the e-
mail was further information concerning the inputs used in its charging model along with
a tariff of HS1 usage charges for rail freight (see attachment 8).
26 March 2007 - EWS received a letter from NR (CTRL) concerning its proposals for a
‘mark-up’ to the rail freight usage charges for HS1 (see attachment 9). NR (CTRL)
proposed that there should be a nominal 10% ‘mark-up’ on the usage charge for night-
time operations until December 2009 when, by then, it may be in a position to realistically
assess a rate of return that the market can bear. No ‘mark-up’ was provided for daytime
operations as this had yet to be determined.
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