Scotland’s Railway

Primarily as a consequence of Executive Devolution under the Railways Act 2005, the Scotland route is at a more advanced stage in terms of asset sustainability and performance than the other routes on the GB Network. This has been in part achieved through closer working and greater integration on the Scotland route, including through the ScotRail Alliance, and the Team Scotland approach.

We are of the view that railway operations are most effective and most efficient where the interface between the service providers (and their control of costs) and the service users is closest. While respecting that in exercising its functions the ORR is governed by various statutory duties (which it must take into account when making decisions), the Scottish Ministers expect the ORR to continue to support the further improvement on the Scotland route by:

• ensuring that where ORR’s decision making processes and policy development has the potential to impact Scotland, it acts in the best interests of the Scottish route and its users. The ability to adapt should not be overridden by a preference for GB-wide uniformity;
• recognising that the Scotland route has constitutional as well as operational devolution, and therefore the priorities which drive Network Rail Scotland’s policies, actions and behaviours on the route may be legitimately different to other parts of the GB network;
• supporting greater decentralisation of appropriate agreed decision-making processes, delivery functions and resources of Network Rail in Scotland in the best interests of users, funders and the Scottish economy;
• ensuring that the regulatory frameworks and incentives put in place are suited to maximising alignment between rail delivery partners, and unnecessary complexity is avoided.