Friday 27 Jul 2018

Network Rail’s response to the ORR investigation into Network Rail not producing finalised timetables 12 weeks in advance

Jo Kaye, managing director, System Operator, Network Rail, said: “We accept the findings of the ORR investigation into why timetables weren’t finalised 12 weeks in advance. It’s clear from the ORR’s investigation that the issues with timetabling go much further than Network Rail, and we welcome and look forward to the industry-wide inquiry. We remain truly sorry for the part we played in the process that caused disruption for so many people and we have learned lessons to make sure it is not repeated.

"We are already putting the ORR’s required plan into action including establishing new joint working arrangements with train operators to support development of the timetables for December 2018 and May 2019."

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Notes to editors:

Working closely with train operators, Network Rail is responsible for publishing the national railway timetable. In February 2018 Network Rail announced it was making temporary changes to the advanced availability of final timetables for approximately six months from 20 May onwards, meaning these were published later than normal. This was because the May 2018 timetable change was the largest in living memory, needing the rescheduling of almost four million services – some 600% more than normal as a result of billions of pounds of investment in the rail network, and in new trains and services.

The scale of this change was being managed by the rail industry, which was also taking into account unexpected alterations to infrastructure projects, to the introduction of new trains and to new services by some operators. Among other issues, there was then a significant delay to the major electrification work between Manchester and Preston. This meant that the Network Rail timetable planning teams were unable to deliver the new timetable within the usual timescales.

The ORR announced that they would be conducting an investigation into why Network Rail was not able to produce finalised timetables 12 weeks in advance, focusing on the following three areas:

  • Network Rail's development, management and delivery of the T-12 recovery plan.
  • Information from train companies and ticket retailers so passengers can plan journeys, buy tickets, be updated and receive information on options when things change.
  • Root causes and lessons learned; investigation of how this issue arose, the industry's delivery against its obligations.

This investigation is separate from the ORR’s inquiry into the May timetable problems.

Customers can find more information at www.nationalrail.co.uk/timetablechange

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