PR23 review initiation notice - Letter to Annex 1 stakeholders (pdf 180.17 KB)More infoDownload
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Head Office: 25 Cabot Square, London E14 4QZ T: 020 7282 2000 www.orr.gov.uk
Stephanie Tobyn
Director, Economics, Markets and Strategy
9 June 2022
To the company secretaries of the organisations listed in the annex
Dear Sir/Madam,
Review Initiation Notice pursuant to Schedule 4A of the Railways Act 1993
Today we are giving formal notice of our intention to undertake an access charges
review. Accordingly, please find enclosed by way of service two notices issued under
Paragraph 1C of Schedule 4A to the Railways Act 1993.
This access charge review, which we refer to as the 2023 periodic review (or PR23),
will determine what Network Rail is expected to deliver with respect to its
infrastructure operations and the level of funding that it is provided with for the five
year period from 1 April 2024 (known as control period 7 (or CP7)). This will feed
through into the service that passengers and freight customers receive and, together
with taxpayers, ultimately pay for. It will also affect the access charges that Network
Rail’s passenger, freight and charter train operator customers will pay to use its track
and stations in CP7. We note that we have already begun developing our policy
approach for some aspects of PR23, including for our review of Network Rail’s
access charges, and we are currently consulting on proposals in respect of access
charging. This notice serves as the formal notice for this review.
As well as giving formal notice of our intention to carry out an access charges
review, the notices set out the dates by which the Secretary of State and Scottish
Ministers must each provide their High-Level Output Specification (HLOS) and
Statement of Funds Available (SoFA). The two notices provide for different deadlines
for the Secretary of State (28 October 2022) and Scottish Ministers (30 November
2022) to submit their HLOSs and SoFAs.
The HLOS and SoFA, respectively, set out what government wants to be achieved
by railway activities during the next control period and the public financial resources
that they expect to make available to support this. Both HLOS and SoFA documents
will inform Network Rail’s Strategic Business Plan (due to be published in February
2023) and, ultimately, the determination that we will issue for Network Rail for CP7,
due in October 2023.
Further information on PR23 is available on our website (www.orr.gov.uk/pr23). To
subscribe for email updates on PR23, please get in touch using the PR23 inbox
address, PR23@orr.gov.uk.
Yours faithfully
Stephanie Tobyn
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