A ‘quartet’ RNEP milestone passed

The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is marking another milestone in the life of the Government’s Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) by posing four questions about future rail schemes.

A quartet of four years, four months, four weeks, and four days have passed since the Department for Transport last announced its future rail project enhancements plan despite a commitment in October 2019 to update the plan annually.

In line with this ‘quartet’ milestone, RIA has posed four questions:

• Which rail schemes are under business plan development?
• What business plan stage have the schemes progressed to?
• What funding has been approved?
• What are the potential timescales for delivery?

The new Procurement Act due to be implemented in October – when the RNEP reaches a potential five years of non-announcements – provides for the publication of pipelines and contract notices. RIA added that the Government’s own Construction Playbook from 2022 states that “One of the most important things we can do is to prepare, maintain and publish comprehensive pipelines of current and future government contracts and commercial activity.”

The Rail & HS2 Minister Huw Merriman said in an interview last month (February) that he would “give a definitive view on the future of the RNEP in a very short timescale”.

Darren Caplan, RIA Chief Executive, said: “Given the budget for the RNEP is roughly £10bn over five years, there should be a clear and visible plan for how this money will be spent. It is concerning that four years, four months, four weeks and four days since the last announcement on RNEP projects, the pipeline remains unpublished.

“Piecemeal announcements have been made on individual projects but there is no comprehensive view on future enhancement plans for the railway. The Government should set out which rail schemes within the RNEP, the new Network North proposals, and the Integrated Rail Plan for the North & Midlands, will go ahead. It should also make clear if it intends to change, scrap or replace the RNEP process. Rail suppliers need clarity on which enhancement projects will proceed to deliver best value to passengers, freight and taxpayers in the long-term.”

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