ORR seeks to abolish Network Grant

摘要

During Control Period 1 from 1996 to 2001, Network Rail's predecessor Railtrack received the vast majority of its income in the form of track access charges paid by train operators. Subsequent Periodic Reviews have seen government pay an increasing proportion of the infrastructure owner's income in the form of direct Network Grants. This is because government accounting rules mean that track access charges are booked as resource expenditure in national accounts, while grant payments to NR can be booked as capital expenditure. As a result, in the last Periodic Review both DfT and the Scottish Ministers sought to maximise their direct grants.