RUSs completed so far
Cross London
This RUS covers the North London Line from Richmond to Woolwich, the Gospel Oak to Barking line, the West London Line from Willesden to Clapham and parts of the South London Line between Battersea Park and South Bermondsey.
East Coast Main Line
This RUS covers the East Coast Main Line between London and the Yorkshire and Humber region, North East England and Edinburgh.
Greater Anglia
This RUS covers the lines into London Liverpool Street and London Fenchurch Street from regions such as Cambridgeshire, East Anglia, Essex and parts of Hertfordshire.
North West
This RUS covers the Manchester central and suburban network including routes reaching to Blackpool, Buxton and Chester. It also covers the routes from Liverpool Lime Street.
South London
This RUS covers the complex suburban rail networks of south and south-east London, reaching out to parts of Kent, Sussex and Surrey.
South West Main Line
This RUS covers the South West Main Line from Waterloo to Weymouth and Portsmouth and the West of England Line. The area comprises rail lines in west Surrey, Hampshire and parts of Dorset, Devon and Wiltshire together with suburban lines in south-west London.
Scotland
This RUS covers the whole rail network in Scotland except the West Coast Main Line south of Carstairs and the East Coast Main Line east/south of Edinburgh.
Route Utilisation Strategies (RUS)
We are developing a series of Route Utilisation Strategies as a key element of the Rail Industry planning framework.
Following the Rail Review in 2004 and the Railways Act 2005, The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) modified Network Rail’s network licence in June 2005 to require the establishment of RUSs across the network. Simultaneously, the ORR published guidelines on RUSs. A RUS is defined in Condition 7 of the network licence as, in respect of the network or a part of the network, a strategy which will promote the route utilisation objective. The route utilisation objective is defined as:
“the effective and efficient use and development of the capacity available, consistent with funding that is, or is reasonably likely to become, available during the period of the route utilisation strategy and with the licence holder’s performance of the duty”.
The “duty” referred to in the objective is Network Rail’s general duty under Licence Condition 7 in relation to the operation, maintenance, renewal and development of the network.
The ORR guidelines also identify two purposes of RUSs, and state that Network Rail should balance the need for predictability with the need to enable innovation. RUSs should:
“enable Network Rail and persons providing services relating to railways better to plan their businesses, and funders better to plan their activities; and set out feasible options for network capacity, timetable outputs and network capability, and funding implications of those options for persons providing services to railways and funders.”
The guidelines also set out principles for RUS development and explain how Network Rail should consider the position of the railway funding authorities, the likely changes in demand and the potential for changes in supply.
Network Rail has developed a RUS Manual which consists of a consultation guide and a technical guide. These explain the processes we will use to comply with the Licence Condition and the guidelines. These and other documents relating to individual RUSs and the overall RUS programme are available on this website.
Click here for more information about Route Utilisation Strategies.