Nicola Shaw, tasked with the government of a review of Network Rail, has released her conclusions today.
She has ruled out a full privatisation of Network Rail but says:
Further options for involving private sector finance… should be explored to release government capital, encourage innovation, and speed up delivery of improvements for passengers.
This is consistent with Network Rail Chief Executive Mark Carne’s comments some months ago where he said:
What I am in favour of is increased devolution to regional businesses. The first stages several years ago were around operational management of the railway. But what we are now talking about is proper route-devolved businesses where they are actually accountable for the planning of the railway.”
The Windsor Link Railway’s submission to Shaw was that the link in Windsor is exactly the sort of privately promoted network improvement that can be facilitated in this way. WLR is pleased that this has been supported. More news soon.
