Railtrack鈥檚 successor may sell thousands of acres of derelict railway land for use as housing.
A spokesman for Network Rail told Housing Today that land that is deemed unnecessary for future railway use could be sold for housing to raise cash from Railtrack鈥檚 assets.

He said: 鈥淚t is a possibility and it鈥檚 not something that we would rule out.鈥�

Railtrack estimates that it has many disused sidings that could be used for housing. Much of this surrounds the main transport hubs in London and the South-east.

Before this could be used however, Network Rail would first have to satisfy Tom Winsor, the rail regulator, that its plans were not against the public interest.

The rules governing the disposal of assets such as land currently dictate that it must not be done purely to return money to shareholders. Winsor has the power to decide whether this 鈥渃lawback鈥� rule is being adhered to or not.

The Network Rail spokesman said: 鈥淭here is scope about talking to the Office of the Rail Regulator about amending the clawback rule 鈥� we would want to look at all the possibilities.鈥�

Asked about the contentious issue of 鈥渃lawback鈥�, a spokesman for the ORR said: 鈥淚t is always open to the owner of the rail network to ask the regulator to review his financial requirements and that includes clawback.鈥�

Source

Housing Today