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User engagement

This page provides our users and stakeholders with information about:

  • our proposals about changes to our statistics;
  • changes in methodology prior to publication;
  • our consultations with the rail industry and other stakeholders.

We encourage feedback from users of our statistics at any time. We will actively seek feedback when we have proposals for changes, which we be clearly highlighted on this page. 

Read our Statement on user engagement.

Rail statistics management group

The Rail statistics management group (RSMG) is composed of the main industry participants where we discuss possible improvements to rail statistics and research in the rail industry.

Rail statistics newsletter

Data Portal: User engagement survey

Our user engagement survey is now closed but thank you to all users that took the opportunity to provide us with feedback. We have now published the results of the user engagement survey and the implementation plan, which can be found below.

Data table accessibility

In order to meet the requirements of The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations (2018) (opens in new page), we are in the process of revamping the presentation of the data tables used to support our statistical releases. These changes include:

  • The addition of a Cover Sheet tab including definitions, publication dates and contact details
  • The addition of a Notes tab providing users with explanatory information related to specific sections of the data tables
  • Changes within the data table itself including
    • presentation of time period data (e.g. Q1 = Apr to Jun, Q2 = Jul to Sep, Q3 = Oct to Dec, Q4 = Jan to Mar)
    • presentation of notes e.g. [note 1] and shorthand e.g. [r] for revised data
    • titles updated to include geographical coverage and time periods covered
    • more descriptive column headings

These changes will continue to be rolled out as we publish updated releases.

If you have any queries on these changes, please contact rail.stats@orr.gov.uk 

Improving rail data

 Given the majority of our data comes from administrative systems used for operational purposes with statistical use being a secondary purpose we are currently planning a work programme to better understand the quality of the data our suppliers provide. We will work with our data suppliers and use the Office for Statistics Regulation’s standard Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) as a toolkit to assist us with our assessment.

We use independent reporters to assess the quality of data provided by Network Rail. The quality is graded on two aspects: system reliability and data accuracy. Reports on completed assessments are published on the ORR website.

A number of other reviews have previously been commissioned by us to ensure that our data are robust and align with stakeholder requirements. These reports are below:

Analytical reports 

Feedback

We welcome feedback. Please send an email to rail.stats@orr.gov.uk with any comments or suggestions.