THE Transport Secretary’s stance on open access “suggests the bar for new applications is being made harder to clear”.
That’s the view of Rail Partners Chief Executive Andy Bagnall, after Heidi Alexander wrote to Office of Rail and Road (ORR) Chair Declan Collier expressing her concerns about the impact of open access operations on both taxpayers and the rail network.
In her letter, Alexander said a balance needed to be struck between their benefits and against potential revenue abstraction and taxpayers paying for shortfalls in network costs.
She told Collier: “While open access operators pay variable access charges to Network Rail to cover the direct costs incurred running their trains on the network, unlike government-contracted operators they do not fully cover the costs of fixed track access charges towards long-term…
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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1027