Researchers

Late last month the ORR Board headed to Cardiff, where we met some of you from Wales and Western England. At Newport Docks we heard about the challenges for rail freight and road access, and the implications for the planned M4 diversion.

We begin this month’s edition of our newsletter with the announcement that Joanna Whittington has been confirmed in her appointment as Chief Executive Officer at ORR following an open public competition. The appointment is effective immediately.

Happy New Year to you all. Protecting the interests of rail and road users, now and in the future, is at the heart of what we do at ORR.

Welcome to the second edition of our monthly stakeholder newsletter, as we keep you up to date with the latest news from the Office of Rail and Road.

Welcome to ORR’s first monthly newsletter. We hope you find this brief snapshot of our activities informative and useful. Feedback is always welcome. And remember, you can keep up to date with us on Twitter @railandroad.

Joanna Whittington, Chief Executive, announces publication of our 2016/17 Business Plan.

Britain's railways are carrying record numbers of passengers and freight on the network today – there were more than 1.5bn passenger journeys on the network in 2013-14, up from around 1.2bn in 2008-09. The amount of freight goods carried has increased from 102.7 million tonnes in 2008-09 to 116.6 million tonnes in 2013-14.