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Route Utilisation Strategy
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<p><a href="/facts/Network_Rail/B7RcLTwY">Network Rail</a> (NR) has an obligation, transferred from the abolished <a href="/facts/Strategic_Rail_Authority/bbouxtcv">Strategic Rail Authority</a>, to periodically produce Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) documents. The original programme was approved by the <a href="/facts/Office_of_Rail_Regulation/LUHFXHF3">Office of Rail Regulation</a> (ORR) in June 2006; under an early version of the programme all but two RUSs were scheduled to be completed by the end of <a href="/facts/Network_Rail/B7RcLTwY">Control Period 3</a> (CP3), 31 March 2009. The programme and its timescale were reviewed by NR and ORR at regular intervals. Despite this the delivery timescales continually slipped: at the end of CP3 no fewer than 9 (almost half) remained incomplete (still in progress or not yet established), despite the fact that funding for infrastructure developments in CP4 was largely set. </p><p>One RUS, the Network RUS, was broken into four workstreams, with a fifth added, apparently, in 2011. </p><p>The original programme was completed by September 2011. </p><p>Late in 2009, NR announced a second generation of RUSs. These were completed by July 2011. </p><p>Effectively the RUS process has been replaced by the Long Term Planning Process, which consists of: </p> <ul><li>Market studies (regional)</li> <li>Route studies (regional)</li> <li>Cross boundary analyses</li></ul>