Oxford Parkway Station; Funded by Chiltern Railways and Network Rail

July 2017

  1. Introduction
  2. Network Rail is open for business
  3. Actions we are taking to support this
  4. Appendices
  5. Download The Hansford Review

1. Introduction

Network Rail is ultimately accountable to the public for the safety and operation of the vast majority of the rail network in Britain. But that should not mean that Network Rail is the only body that can build or renew infrastructure on or around the railway.We recognise the power of competition to drive efficiency, creativity and innovation.

That is why, in December 2016, we commissioned Professor Peter Hansford, former Chief Construction Advisor to the UK Government, to carry out a review into the barriers that prevent third parties building on, and potentially investing in, our railways. Professor Hansford and his review team consulted with over 150 individuals and organisations.

The review was published in June 2017, and makes a number of recommendations for Network Rail, which we accept wholeheartedly. We are now committing to changing our behaviours and approaches so that a range of organisations can come forward with alternative solutions and new ways of working.

我们向行业的信息是网络铁路开放的业务。亚搏彩票软件官网

We have set out below some of the areas where we will be introducing contestability in the delivery of projects and renewals activity. We explain how we will change our processes and behaviours to enable third parties to directly carry out projects and renewals on and around the railway. We know that this will make third party funding easier to achieve, which will directly benefit passengers and taxpayers. And we are committing to work with the industry to find the right mechanisms to attract and reward third party finance and delivery.

These actions will support our ambition to transform into a more customer-focussed organisation and, most importantly, change the way the rail industry operates to deliver the high performing, cost efficient railway that Britain’s future depends on.

2. Network Rail is open for business

Third party involvement in rail schemes can take many different forms. We believe, however, that there are a number of clear areas of opportunity.

Over the past three years, we have made significant internal changes. We have transformed from a largely centralised organisation to a group of devolved, customer-facing route businesses. Now route managing directors are accountable to customers for the day-to-day running of their routes and for the outcome of projects and renewals. They make decisions about what renewals work is done and when. They are the key interface between funders of new enhancement projects and the operational railway. So it is right that they should also be able to decide by whom these activities are done and to create opportunities for the market to compete to deliver these activities in novel and different ways. In the future the route managing directors can choose alternative delivery models when this demonstrates overall improved value for money.

There will therefore be opportunities for activities to be directly competed in the market. The devolved businesses will publish a pipeline of such opportunities by the end of 2017. CP6 will be built with contestability at its core. The intent will be that projects listed would still be at an early stage of development (but when required outputs are clear) to allow the maximum degree of creativity and innovation.

Initially these opportunities may be at the smaller end of the spectrum, such as new stations depots, and car parks. Examples of this may include new stations such as those planned at Warrington West, Reading Green Park, Ceredigion Bow Street and Horden in County Durham. Over time we will be able to use learning from initial projects delivered in this way to develop best practice criteria for when to adopt this approach.

汉斯福德审查明确表示,目前的资产保护安排,模板协议和网络轨道风险转移指南阻碍了这种活动,如下所述,我们致力于改变这些活动,以便承包商对他们的东西有更大的信心亚搏彩票软件官网将从网络轨道获取。亚搏彩票软件官网

There are also areas where Network Rail’s own infrastructure organisation will be best placed to manage project delivery, for example due to scale, complexity and risks which a private sector company could not bear. This will also be part of the framework we will develop.

一部分欢迎竞争性的是认识到我们不必在所有铁路项目中发挥核心作用。如果第三方有一个特定的项目,他们希望前进,并且处于一个职位,那么最有效的模型可能是他们承担资金,设计和构建的责任。我们的角色是提供有关确保建设的内容所需的标准和流程的建议,并不将我们暴露于长期负债。我们再次知道资产保护安排必须改变,以允许这些第三方提供成功的项目。

Network Rail’s System Operator function helps identify future capacity needs on the railway and ensures that the allocation of current capacity is optimised for the benefit of the network as a whole. They can support third parties in understanding how well their projects might fit with the wider strategic direction being taken by the industry.

该领域的示例可以包括构造改进的导轨链路,以支持发电计划,例如坎布里亚,或者在阿尔加利亚的施工中的施工。它还可以包括当地或区域运输当局完全资助的项目,如线扩展,仓库和站。

We know there is considerable private sector appetite to invest in long life secure assets such as railways. As there are complexities in ensuring these are financially viable for both government and investors, we are establishing a dedicated team (to be in place by December 2017) to identify suitable opportunities. Projects that require supplier expertise – developing new technology, for example – may be particularly suitable for this.

This may include third parties delivering and providing finance for schemes, which would then remain on the government’s “balance sheet” and be paid by government over the long-term. These would typically be opportunities where the benefits of innovation and risk transfer outweigh the likely higher cost of capital, i.e. they represent better value for money. Such projects will still need to fit in the available government funding envelope to be viable.

As the Hansford Review identified, there is currently a lack of visibility for potential investors of the opportunities available to them. As with the Network Rail funded project pipeline mentioned above, we will also publish a regular pipeline of potential projects at a national level. When we have established that third party development is the best way forward, and included projects in this pipeline, we will not compete for them ourselves.

Often people and organisations outside Network Rail have good ideas or new technology that they want to develop and that will improve services and reduce industry cost. We want to make it easier for organisations to do this and allow them a share in the benefit. We are already adopting this approach in the development of digital traffic management systems and we believe that there will be many other areas within Digital Railway that lend themselves to this type of third party investment.

3. Actions we are taking to support this

我们知道,有一个普遍的看法work Rail is difficult to work with. The Hansford Review identified one of the barriers to third parties entering the rail market is Network Rail’s own behaviours. Currently, a potential funder may have to engage with a number of different Network Rail departments, who may offer conflicting advice, and it can be unclear where accountability for decision-making sits.

Asset protection agreements can be a particular barrier for third parties. During works on or adjacent to the railway, it is essential that Network Rail has proper procedures in place to ensure that rail services are not disrupted, that equipment and structures are not damaged, and that safety is given the highest priority. The Hansford Review identifies, however, that “the perception is that Network Rail’s approach is excessively risk-averse, and not incentivised to help third parties.”

This needs to change. We will:

  • Provide a single point of contact for third parties, a project sponsor who will be responsible for liaising on their behalf with the other relevant parts of Network Rail. They will be given greater accountability for asset protection (ASPRO), agreeing with the third party what is required and then agreeing a project plan with the ASPRO team and putting the necessary commercial arrangements in place.
  • Develop a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for third parties, setting out what they can expect from us, processes and timescales, as well as our escalation process if they are not satisfied. We want those who might enter into future SLAs with us to inform this work, so we will establish a working group, led by Amey’s CEO Andy Milner, to agree what the key elements of the SLA should be. From 2018, we will publish our performance against the SLA, by route, highlighting best practice and areas for improvement.
  • Standardise our approach to ASPRO across our nine routes, so that requirements and expectations are consistent and transparent whatever part of the country the project is in and whether it is being delivered by a third party or by one of Network Rail’s own delivery teams.
  • Establish budget for ASPRO teams and an adequate resource pool to respond to third party requirements quickly.

We will trial this approach on the Anglia route in autumn 2017, before rolling it out across Network Rail in spring 2018.

汉斯福德的审查发现,“标准的不适当的应用被认为是”镀金“网络铁路的要求的借口,以至于第三方的成本”。亚搏彩票软件官网

我们认识到,虽然标准对于确保安全性,兼容性和质量,但是当不分青红皂白地应用时,它们也可以增加不必要的成本和复杂性。除了我们对我们2018年3月的政策和标准的政策和标准的审查中,我们希望能让我们的供应商主动挑战所考虑的标准,无需可比利益,特别关注早期项目设计阶段。

我们已经进行了初步的讨论in the Commercial Directors’ Forum to get their views on the current barriers to challenging standards and how we might best incentivise suppliers to provide that challenge. This could involve, for example, providing a financial reward structure based on the savings that will be achieved following an improvement to a standard, or providing formal industry recognition for outstanding innovations put forward by suppliers that challenge our current requirements and practices. We will be conducting a pilot which will focus specifically on reviewing, updating and challenging our electrification standards.

Based on the findings of the pilot and lessons we can learn from other industries we aim to introduce these incentives from 2018. We believe this will enable us to harness the creativity of the industry and ensure that our standards constantly represent the latest cutting edge thinking, as well as creating potentially significant cost savings. From 2018, we will publish an annual list of industry-inspired changes to standards, and the industry benefit they have generated (and are likely to generate in the longer term).

These measures are intended to turn Network Rail standards, and the standard-setting process, into standards that have far greater industry buy-in. Our vision is for standards forged through collaboration, which not only support the safe and efficient running of the network but also contain the very latest thinking and innovation in the industry.

We will make a number of changes to our internal structures to ensure we have adequate resource to achieve our ambitions:

  • 作为我们越来越多的责任担任管理董事的责任的方案的一部分,我们正在招募进入路线领导结构,以提高我们的商业能力,包括任命业务发展董事。我们预计2017年秋季将填写所有职位。
  • We will create a Head of Asset Protection in each route, who will work with project sponsors on third party requirements. They will be directly accountable to the industry for ensuring that the SLA service levels, mentioned above, are delivered and reported on. This will be part of the changes outlined in section one, to be trialled in Anglia in autumn 2017 before rolling out across Network Rail in spring 2018.
  • We will also create a national director of Asset Protection to lead the transformation of ASPRO and develop policies and processes.

为支持这些变革,网络铁路的首席财务官(CFO)将对治亚搏彩票软件官网理和报告框架进行全面责任,以支持和监控网络上的第三方参与。这将由路线财务团队的全面报告系统得到支持,该组织将在外部报告并直到网络轨道板。亚搏彩票软件官网这将在2017年12月到位。这将使我们能够在内部和外部外部明确,关于我们预期的效率,我们希望通过绩效目标和与绩效相关的薪酬激励内部行为改变。具体而言,首席财务官将确保我们每年报告第三方竞争机会的管道,资产保护SLA绩效以及对标准的积极变化所作的激励付款。

In addition the CFO will act as the final point of escalation for any disputes and will champion the removal of obstacles that are hindering third party investors.

One of the deterrents to investment in the railway is the degree of risk that can be realistically borne by a third party. We will clarify what risks can be excluded by a third party and assess where Network Rail alone is in a position to bear certain risks. We also expect certain risks can in future be transferred to the insurance markets rather than being ultimately borne by Network Rail or the third party and already have products in place to support this.

4. Appendicies

Autumn 2017 – Anglia trial of new approach to third parties/ ASPRO.

Autumn 2017 – route leadership teams, including business development directors, in place.

December 2017 – new governance and reporting framework in place.

2017年12月 - 排行第三方的机会发布管道。

December 2017 – team in place to identify schemes suitable for third party finance.

2018 – introduction of incentives to encourage industry challenge of standards.

2018年3月——内部审查的政策和立场ards completed.

Spring 2018 – roll out of new approach to third parties/ ASPRO.

By December 2018 – publish performance against third party SLA, by route.

到2018年12月 - 发布行业启发的标准变更。

Hansford recommendation Network Rail Response
1 Network Rail to develop and embed processes and specialist commercial capability within the routes to establish and execute a range of alternative design and delivery options for infrastructure projects. 见3.1。
2 Network Rail to demonstrate its commitment to creating a more contestable market and evaluate resulting gains. 2.1 and 3.4.
3 亚搏彩票软件官网网络铁路与政府合作,开发明确透明的原则和流程,以考虑每个投资决策阶段的竞争性。 见3.4。We will work with DfT to take this forward.
4 Government to ensure that it gives due consideration to contestability in its business case methodology, and to publish appraisal guidelines to assist third parties to realise financial benefits associated with rail infrastructure projects. [DfT action]
5 Government to establish an early development fund with clear criteria to assist in the creation of high quality investment proposals. [DfT action]
6 Network Rail in conjunction with government to create and maintain a forward view of the scale of third party investment opportunities, giving visibility and confidence to the market. 见3.4。我们将与DFT合作,以此为前进。
7 Network Rail in conjunction with government to identify a range of pathfinder projects to demonstrate the removal of barriers and the benefits from alternative funding and delivery models. 亚搏彩票软件官网铁路网络将created a pipeline of opportunities by the end of 2017, in conjunction with DfT. Some projects may then become ‘pathfinders’.
8 Network Rail to define roles and accountabilities, build capability and provide support to the routes for engaging with third party investors (funders and deliverers); and to define the respective accountabilities of the routes and Network Rail Infrastructure Projects directorate. See 3.3 and 3.4.
9 Embed within Network Rail’s transformation programme the behavioural changes required to create a welcoming, predictable and trusting environment, providing more cost and risk certainty. See 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5.
10 Network Rail to convert its Code of Practice into a Service Level Agreement, refreshing its template agreements, asset protection agreements and guidelines reflecting a more balanced risk transfer, in consultation with industry. See 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5.
11 Create a transparent process to enable and facilitate third party challenge of scope and standards application during project development, fixing them before funding commitments are made. 见3.2和3.4。
12 Establish effective oversight arrangements to provide strategic direction for a more contestable rail market, building on existing Network Rail governance structures and involving government as appropriate 见3.4。我们将根据需要与DFT和ORR一起使用这一目标。

Download the Hansford Review