Train Operating Companies: Fines

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on which occasions the Rail Regulator has imposed penalties on rail companies in each of the last three years; what penalty was imposed; on which company it was imposed; for what reasons it was imposed; and to what purpose the fines have been put. (179745)

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has imposed the following penalties on railway companies in the last three years:

*Penalties imposed by ORR on railway companies 2005-07*
	Penalty (£)	Railway company	Reasons
2006	250,000	Network Rail	Breach of Condition 7 of Network Licence regarding inaccurate infrastructure information
2006	4.1 million	English Welsh and Scottish Railway	Infringement of prohibition contained in Chapter II of the Competition Act 1998, resulting in exclusion of competitors from the coal haulage-by-rail market
2007	2.4 million	Network Rail	Breach of Condition 7 of Network Licence regarding the Portsmouth re-signalling scheme

All the penalties levied were paid into the Consolidated Fund. Any penalties on rail companies following prosecution for breaches of health and safety legislation would be determined by the courts.

Volume 470: debated on Tuesday 22 January 2008