Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2025 to Question 90806 on Railways: Contracts, in what circumstances track access rights would be extended; and what role (a) she and (b) Great British Railways will have in decisions undertaken by the Office of Rail and Road.

Further to the answer from 21 November to Question 90806, the government is maintaining its commitment to honour existing rights in Schedule 5 of track access contracts until they expire. As existing contracts expire, operators will move on to new GBR model access contracts. It will be for GBR as the directing mind for the railway to decide whether existing rights represent best use of the network and whether they are extended.

The ORR will be a robust appeals body for GBR’s access decisions, ensuring fairness, and able to impose remedies on GBR to correct a decision that is not consistent with its statutory duties, SoS issued guidance or its own AUP.