DESIGNATED CHARTER NETWORK CAPACITY
In issue 249, the Williams review was examined and potential impacts for the heritage sector. The article mentioned the development of designated charter capacity – in short, creating designated specific network capacity, or to use the industry terminology, paths. To explain this, a little background information is necessary to provide context.
Charter operations are governed by the Freight and National Passenger Operators Network Rail route.
Network Rail is split into geographical areas of control, but the FNPO route is known as a virtual route, insofar that it does not have direct control over a geographical area. Instead, it provides the central relationship, in simple terms, with Network Rail for charters, freight operators, Caledonian Sleeper and the Cross Country franchise. The one thing these operators have in common is that their geographical spread is varied and national – therefore they do not naturally fit with one geographical route, in the same way that South Western Railway is aligned to the Wessex route of Network Rail, for example.
It should not be forgotten that the heritage operators annually accrue circa 1000 trains per annum, with about 50% of these steam-hauled. To put it in perspective, both the Northern and GTR franchises operate circa 3000 trains per day, while LNER operates about 150 trains per day.
While FNPO manages the relationship with Network Rail
