Editing Network Rail (section)

==Funding==
{{Main|Financing of the rail industry in Great Britain}}
Network Rail is a [[Nonprofit organization|not-for-profit organisation]]. The majority of funding comes from a mix of direct grants and borrowing from the UK and Scottish Governments, payments from train and freight operators and previously a small amount of income from commercial property estate.<ref name=ap2019 /> In February 2019 Network Rail sold its commercial property business consisting of 5,200 properties, mainly railway arches, to a consortium of [[Telereal Trillium]] and [[Blackstone Inc.|Blackstone Property Partners]] for £1.46bn.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/10/network-rail-sells-railway-arches-real-estate-investors-telereal-trillium-blackstone-property-partners |title=Network Rail sells railway arches to investors for £1.5bn |date=10 September 2018 |work=The Guardian }}</ref>

Network Rail works in five-year funding cycles called "Control Periods" (CP for short). The government specifies what is needed from Network Rail and sets out how much the government can afford to contribute. The [[Office of Rail and Road]] (ORR) then sets the level of fixed income that Network Rail is allowed to charge and assesses the amount of money needed by Network Rail to run efficiently. The last Control Period ran from 2014 to 2019; 1&nbsp;April 2019 was the start of ''Control Period 6''.<ref name=ap2019 />

In 2019, government funding for train operating companies amounted to £4.1&nbsp;billion, paying access charges to use the rail network, £2.1&nbsp;billion and freight £58&nbsp;million. In 2019, it spent £3.1&nbsp;billion on renewals (restoring existing infrastructure back to how it was when new) and £3.2&nbsp;billion on enhancements, with the rest spent on maintenance and other costs.<ref name=ap2019 />