The organisation has recently updated 400 of these standards, which exist to ensure safety, performance and cost efficiency in the running of the railway. But it admits they are often seen as overly complex and can add unnecessary cost to the delivery of upgrades.

 

It now asks the industry to suggest further changes to the standards and bring forward creative new ideas for better ways of maintaining and enhancing the network.

 

Contractors, suppliers and other stakeholders can submit a ‘standards challenge application’ if they consider current standards to be incorrect, failing to enable the delivery of best practice, or driving increased cost without considerable benefit.

 

“We’ve recently updated our 400 most critical standards but to ensure they always represent current best practice and constantly strive to safely reduce the cost of the railway, we need the help of our wider industry partners as well as experts from other industries and universities,” said Network Rail’s chief engineer Jon Shaw.

 

“The launch of the standards challenge process is the lever for this, providing genuine recognition and incentives to propose more efficient ways of both enhancing and maintaining our railway.”

 

The scope covers Network Rail’s whole portfolio of policies, standards, processes and specifications. All challenges will be reviewed by the organisation in the form of a rigorous impact assessment.

 

Incentives are also due to be introduced to encourage new ideas, including in certain scenarios sharing a proportion of the savings realised following a successful challenge on a project.

 

Railway Industry Association technical director David Clarke said the standards challenge would help to unlock innovation, introduce new technologies to the network and reduce costs, “ultimately to the benefit of passengers and taxpayers”.

 

“Now, it is for the industry to come forward with their creative solutions – and we encourage all to do so,” he said. “RIA looks forward to continuing its active role in this initiative – working alongside Network Rail and the wider industry – to ensure railway standards are the most effective and efficient they can be.”