Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the long-term access rights for Grand Central on the East Coast Main Line require them to pay the same access charge as Intercity East Coast; and, if not, why not.

Grand Central will not pay the same access charges as Intercity East Coast as Open Access Operators do not pay Fixed Track Access Charges (FTAC). However, both Franchised and Open Access Operators pay Variable Track Access Charges (VTAC) since these are set to reflect the direct ‘wear and tear’ costs that train services impose on the network when they are run.

For Control Period 5 (CP5) the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has held the Capacity Charge element of VTAC at CP4 levels for services currently run by existing passenger Open Access Operators, however they will pay CP5 rates for any additional or new services whilst any new entrant Open Access Operator will pay CP4 rates on services below a set threshold and CP5 rates on services above that threshold. Franchised Operators pay the new, higher CP5 rates for both existing and new services.　 However, this is the only element of VTAC that is calculated on a different basis.