Assessment of Applications for Track Access on the West Coast Mainline

The project objective is to assess existing and/or collect new evidence and produce a report which will make recommendations on determining access rights contained in the applications referenced. Regarding any new evidence we would expect the consultant to discuss the scope the ORR project lead. The first part of the project will focus on the operational capacity and performance evidence needed, which will rely heavily on Network Rail and the applicant's input and expertise. Depending on the results of the operational capacity analysis the consultant may be asked to conduct economic analysis on the applications.The report produced and the assessment undertaken will help inform ORR's decision on which access rights should be approved within the track access applications. ORR is likely to cite this analysis in explaining the reasons for its final decisions. Therefore, the assessment must follow best practice, to ensure it is robust, impartial, consistent, and transparent in its treatment of each of the service options. The assessment must also differentiate between existing and additional services and provide a response on each category as to if and when they can be accommodated. For clarity, we define additional services as those that are additional to the services operating from December 2022 (and included in the current AWC Section 18 application). This will include consideration of the application from WMT for a timebound service and any extension beyond its planned expiry date.This review and analysis of evidence already provided, planned perturbation analysisand any further analysis should not duplicate Network Rail or applicant work (unless necessary).The consultants will be expected to work constructively with both infrastructure manager and operators.