Project Outline
- Industry consultation to review Station Access Charges, including Qualifying Expenditure (QX) and Long-Term Charge (LTC) proposals as part of the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) Periodic Review 23 (PR23) consultation for the UK’s Managed Stations, Franchised Stations, and Network Rail’s Control Period 7 Strategic Business Plan (SBP).
- Industry investigation consultation on Station Categorisation in collaboration with consultancy partners to identify recommendations for rail reform on behalf of the Great British Railways Transition Team.
- Establishment and chairmanship of the steering group driving change and project initiatives; engaging with Executives, Regional Representatives, Station Managers, Train Operating Companies Access Contract Managers and Owning Group Finance Directors.
- Full project lifecycle implementation from concept, feasibility, definition, development, and delivery.
Key Information
| Project | Qualifying Expenditure Fixed Fee Agreement for Operators using Network Rail's Managed Stations, CP7 Station Access Consultation, and Station Categorisation Investigation Consultation |
| Client | System Operator, Network Rail |
| Services | Project Management |
| Duration | March 2023 – March 2024 |
Our Service
Mercury3 Consult deployed an expert in this field to provide Project Management services to lead and deliver industry consultations on station access charges and implementation of proposals for Control Period 7 Station Access, Station Categorisation and Qualifying Expenditure Fixed Fee.
We provided extensive stakeholder management, gaining 100+ key stakeholders for programme delivery, including the Office of Rail and Road, Department for Transport, Rail Delivery Group, Train Operating Companies (TOCs), Network Rail’s Regional and National Asset Maintenance, Finance (Group, Region, Route), Network Rail’s Customer Relationship Executives, Operations, Station Managers, Planning & Regulation, Accessibility & Inclusion.
Key Achievements
Successful development and delivery of the CP7 Qualifying Expenditure Fixed Fee agreement totalling £650M to 21 Train Operating Companies as users of the UK’s 20 largest railway stations (Network Rail’s Managed Stations), on behalf of the Group Finance Director as Sponsor, benefitting multiple client and partner stakeholders across the rail industry.
Achieved all industry milestones for the ORR Periodic Review 23 and Network Rail’s CP7 Strategic Business Plan.
Client benefits included negating requirement to undertake protracted and detailed negotiations, significant cost savings against actual expenditure, efficiency savings, protecting operators from high inflationary increases, mitigating industry exposure to inflation volatility, providing surety on budget requirements for 5-year control period, providing a clear baseline to the implication of future material changes, Network Rail ownership of risk mitigation and management.
