Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many structural examinations are currently non-compliant on the Network Rail network as of 11 September 2023.

As of 11 September 2023, there were 14,952 non-compliant examinations.

Network Rail undertakes examinations of its structures (bridges, retaining walls, culverts) to record their condition. Each examination type involves two key stages:

1. Site examination – an examiner visits the structure to collect condition information.
2. Report submission and Network Rail acceptance – an independent engineer reviews the information from site and makes recommendations, then a Network Rail engineer reviews the examination report and determines the need for interventions to the structure.

Non-compliance occurs when either of the above examination stages take longer than the permitted tolerances within Network Rail’s standard.

To contextualise the levels of non-compliance provided, Network Rail’s structures portfolio has approximately 150,000 examination regimes ongoing. Each non-compliant examination is risk assessed so that mitigating measures can be put in place if considered necessary. Network Rail has been engaging with the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) around the issue of non-compliance and, at the end of August 2023, submitted its recovery plans setting out how it will recover and sustain examination compliance. Network Rail is now focusing on its delivery of these plans.