Liverpool鈥檚 public transport body, Merseytravel, is petitioning the government for control over commissioning track and signalling for its Merseyrail Electrics network, which is currently under the control of Network Rail
Merseytravel said the move, which would put it in charge of letting work on its multimillion pound network upgrade programme, would save the government millions of pounds in procurement efficiencies. It added that this would 鈥渃ut track and signalling failures and reduce the number of trains that are delayed or cancelled by at least a third鈥�.
It added: 鈥淐rucially, it would provide a benchmark by which Network Rail鈥檚 performance could be assessed 鈥� something that isn鈥檛 possible at the moment.鈥�
Merseytravel鈥檚 proposal was made under the government鈥檚 Multi Area Agreement (MAA), which gives groups of councils flexibility to spend money in pursuit of agreed targets.
Merseytravel has been battling to maintain its own infrastructure since 2005 and has the backing of the Office of the Rail Regulator. However, Network Rail has consistently refused the request.
Merseytravel is unique in the UK for being able to award its own operator franchise.
No comments yet