Recommendation 23

The Office of Rail and Road told us that in Control Period 5 (2014–15 to 2018–19), Network Rail became less efficient and failed to meet efficiency targets.58 Indeed, in contrast to assumptions made by the Office of Rail and Road that Network Rail could improve the efficiency of its core business activities by 19.4% during Control Period 5, its efficiency actually declined by 7.4%.59 For Control Period 6 (2019–20 to 2023–24), Network Rail told us it has agreed to a target of £4 billion of efficiency savings on operations, maintenance, renewals and support activities. This is an increase from the original target of £3.5 billion, which Network Rail considers it can exceed.60