Network Rail: Assets

(asked on 16th March 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2026 to Question 102105 on Network Rail: Assets, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Network Rail’s calculation of the Composite Sustainability index for each railway asset; and what assessment she has made of rail asset (a) age and (b) condition in (i) Control Period 4 (ii) Control Period 5 (iii) Control Period 6 and (iv) Control Period 7.


Answered by
Keir Mather Portrait
Keir Mather
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This question was answered on 30th March 2026

The methodology for the composite sustainability index (CSI) calculations is developed by Network Rail and is recognised by the regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, as being a reliable and effective means to monitor the changing remaining life of railway infrastructure.

Rail asset age and condition, as determined via CSI and service affecting failures (SAFs) respectively, are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1: CSI shift across Control Periods

CP5 exit

CP6 exit

CP7 Y2 update

CSI shift against a baseline of the start of CP5

0.40%

-1.20%

-2.60%

Table 2: SAF shift across Control Periods

End CP4

End CP5

End CP6

Latest 13 Periods in CP7

SAFs per year

28,914

24,711

23,339

23,025

Reticulating Splines