Gravy Train

17 October 2003 By Fiona Maharg-Bravo

The UK rail regulator has rightly refused to let the profligate operator increase its spending as much as it wanted. The snag is that there is nothing to stop Network Rail from blowing whatever budget it is set.

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Tom Winsor, the UK Rail regulator, has published draft conclusions from his review of the Network Rail's funding requirements. The regulator has said Network Rail can charge franchise train operators £23bn over the next five years, £12bn less than the company had originally requested in March.

Mr Winsor said: The work that Network Rail and I have done in this review has shown that these figures contained huge inefficiencies and that spending at that level would be an enormous waste of public money.

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