Monitoring Network Rail’s performance

We monitor on the quality of Network Rail's engagement with its stakeholder community.

Independent reporters provide professional advice to the ORR on the quality of Network Rail's service provision, as specified in its licence.

We monitor performance through analysis of regular reports from Network Rail.

We regulate Network Rail’s stewardship of the rail network: for funders, train companies and their passengers, freight operators and their customers and taxpayers.

These documents are part of how we hold Network Rail to account.

Network Rail's network licence includes a condition providing for independent experts (reporters) to be appointed by the network operator (Network Rail), to provide ORR with advice on different aspects of Network Rail’s performance.

This page presents our cost benchmarking analysis of Network Rail's costs. It covers the analysis we undertook in different periodic reviews as well as reports we produced as part of our regular monitoring of Network Rail’s cost performance.

On 29 November 2023 we opened an investigation into Network Rail’s Wales & Western region’s compliance with the Network Licence. This was because despite the delivery of planned improvement activities, the train performance levels experienced by customers continued to be below expectations.