Possession Possession Management Review Management Review For PR13

1 Executive Summary
The objective of this study is to assess the relative efficiency of Network Rail in its performance in the
management of Possessions, i.e. securing times to allow staff safe access to the UK Rail infrastructure
for the purposes of inspection, maintenance or renewal activities. This has been achieved through
original benchmarking work undertaken with a range of international Comparator organisations, and
a review of existing benchmarking work and other studies undertaken in this area.
In particular, this study builds on the research undertaken in the 2006 ORR report “Possession
Benchmarking Exercise”1 and the more­recent studies culminating in the 2011 “Infrastructure
Managers Efficiency benchmarking study2
. This study does not seek to replicate the research
undertaken for these precursor studies, but to add to their conclusions in determining what efficiency
gains are practical for Control Period 5 (CP5) and what would need to be done for Network Rail to
become “best­in­class” in the area of Possession Management.
The results from the benchmarking work undertaken were found to be broadly in line with previous
such studies, including those undertaken for the recent McNulty report, in that an apparent efficiency
gap of around 30% between Network Rail and the average performance of Comparator organisations
was identified in a number of key areas. Detailed interviews with Network Rail staff were then used to
investigate the scope for improvements in these areas, and the issues that need to be addressed for
Network Rail to achieve both average and best­in­class performance. A summary of the results of
these investigations is set out below

More[pdf-embedder url=”https://www.possessionplanning.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Possession-Possession-Management-Review-Management-Review.pdf” title=”Possession Possession Management Review Management Review”]