Office of Rail and Road
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is an independent authority in the United Kingdom that oversees rail traffic in Great Britain ( England , Wales and Scotland ) and road traffic in England.
Until April 2015, the ORR was called the Office of Rail Regulation . As a railway authority , it has been responsible for the safety of rail traffic since 2004, for the supervision of the infrastructure operator HS1 Ltd. (Operator of the high-speed line High Speed One between London and the Eurotunnel ) and Network Rail (operator of the other route network formerly owned by British Rail ) and the British railway companies as well as for guaranteeing passenger rights . On April 1, 2015, the ORR also took over responsibility for the safety and monitoring of Highways England , the English road construction authority, by changing its name, so it only has competencies in the road sector in England .
Structure and financing
As an independent agency, the ORR is not part of the UK Department of Transport. It is divided into eight departments under a Chief Executive Director , each headed by an Executive Director . It is supervised by a board of ten , three of the board members are also executive directors . The head of the board is not an executive director . In total, the ORR has around 280 employees who work at the headquarters in London and in five regional offices in Birmingham , Bristol , Glasgow , Manchester and York .
The ORR is funded by contributions from the railway companies and has an annual budget of around £ 30 million .
Legal framework and tasks
The legal framework of the ORR is defined by the relevant laws. These include in particular the Railways Act 2005 , the Railways Act 1993 , the Railways and other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 , the Rail Vehicle Accessibility Regulations 2010 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 . The extension to English road traffic is based on the Infrastructure Act 2015 . The ORR is required to provide information and reports to the UK Parliament and the regional parliaments in Scotland and Wales .
Within the framework of European law , the ORR takes on the role of national safety supervision for rail traffic. This includes, among other things, the establishment and further development of appropriate safety guidelines, regular reporting on the status of safety, reviews and investigations for compliance with the guidelines as well as the issuing of requirements and obligations for the railway companies . The ORR is also responsible for the licensing of the railway companies. It also investigates possible competition violations by individual companies.
In relation to Network Rail as the national infrastructure operator, the ORR sets the general strategic direction, in particular by setting targets for performance and efficiency. These objectives are checked by the ORR through regular monitoring and sanctioned if they are not achieved. Investment planning is also checked . The ORR is also acting in a comparable manner towards HS1 Ltd , the operator of the high-speed route to the Eurotunnel. On the other hand, the tasks of the ORR do not include the supervision of London Underground or other inner-city rapid transit systems.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ lexology.com: Office of Rail Regulation re-named Office of Rail and Road , April 9, 2015 , accessed April 23, 2015