Letter from Heathrow Airport Limited to Office of Rail and Road dated 22 June 2016
| Date | 22 June 2016 |
| Section | Transport for London appeal under regulation 29 and complaint under regulation 30 of the Railways Infrastructure (Access and Management) Regulations |
Heathrow Airport Limited Registered in England No: 1991017 Registered Office: The Compass Centre, Nelson Road, Hounslow, Mi ddlesex TW6 2GW
Heathrow Airport Limited
The Compass Centre, Nelson Road,
Hounslow, Middlesex TW6 2GW
22 June 2016
John Trippier
Senior Executive, Track Access
Railway Markets and Economics
John.trippier@orr.gsi.gov.uk
Via Email Only
Dear John,
I write in response to your email dated 25 May 2016 regarding Transport for London’s (TfL) appeal under
Regulation 29 and complaint under Regulation 30 (together ‘the complaints’) of th e Railways Infrastructure
(Access and Management) Regulations 2005 (‘the Regulations’). Please note th at this response does not deal with
the question of long term costs and the ORR’s recent determination on the issue as this will be dealt with
separately in future correspondence.
In the first instance I would like to state that in our view the complaints are wholly withou t merit and vexatious
showing no evidence of unfair treatment or discrimination. Heathrow Airport Limit ed (HAL) has met with the
Crossrail Sponsors (including TfL) on more than twenty occasions in the past year discussing a ll aspects of the
Heathrow Spur access documentation (‘the documents’). These discussions included th e provision of various draft
documents prior to the wider 2015 consultation and a full set of responses to all TfL’s comments on 30 November
2015 (copy enclosed at Annex A) and these responses remain accurate in respect o f the complaints. HAL has
offered on a number of occasions to meet further with the Crossrail Sponsors regarding t hese matters. On each
occasion these meetings were declined unless HAL agreed to the terms proposed by the Crossrail Sponsors.
On 27 April 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) wrote to HAL’s Chief Executiv e Officer (copy enclosed at
Annex B) stating that TfL would be making the complaints “…on behalf of th e Crossrail Sponsors…” as they held
the view that the documents were not in compliance with the Regulations and “…not fit for purpose…” but did not
suggest any unfair treatment or discrimination.
HAL does not share the DfT’s views on compliance with the Regulations or fitness for purpose but does note th at
they did not suggest that there were any issues of unfair treatment or discrimination in respect of the documents.
Throughout its dealings with the Crossrail Sponsors, consultation respondents and infrastructure u sers HAL has
made every effort to ensure fair and equal treatment in respect of access to our rail infrastructu re and if there is
any criticism to be laid it might be that the Crossrail Sponsors have received information on a more timely basi s
than other consultation respondents and has had more opportunity t o influence the formation of the documents.
HAL has prepared a revised set of documents (see Annex C) which were to be con sulted upon once the question of
long term costs had been resolved. In light of the complaints and the ORR’s advice not to release the revised
documentation until the complaints have been determined the proposed con sultation on the revised documents
has been suspended. In the meantime to assist the ORR in considering the complain ts the basis upon which access
charges will be calculated is set out below.
Track Access Charging Framework
While the ORR is responsible for the applicable charging framework as prescribed by the Regulations, HAL is
responsible for designing and calculating track access charges within this framework.
The track access charges will be determined so as to be consistent with a position in which, under n ormal business
conditions and over a reasonable time period, HAL’s income from such charges shall enabl e the recovery of all
efficiently incurred costs. In designing its charges HAL has adhered to the Regulat ions and to the most recent EU
legislation on track access charges, the EU Directive 2012/34/EU and the Commission Implementing R egulation
2015/909.
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