Network Rail has seen its pension deficit nearly double from £661m to just under £1.3bn over the past year, despite moves to make the scheme more affordable.

The rail infrastructure owner offers two defined benefit schemes and one defined contribution arrangement. Current service costs for the DB schemes sat at £119m for the year, the same level as in 2012.

According to its annual report released today, Network Rail booked a £578m actuarial loss on its pension schemes, up from the £245m actuarial loss recorded last year.

Group finance director Patrick Butcher said the company’s asset base continued to grow over the year, despite the pension deficit’s cooling impact.

“The increase in net assets was less than expected as the profit for the year was largely offset by the increase in the pension deficit, largely driven by the change in the discount rate,” he said.

The main pension scheme in which the group participates is the Railway Pension Scheme, a funded DB arrangement which started in October 1994.

The RPS is an industry-wide scheme for all eligible employees in the railway industry. New members can only join the Network Rail section of the RPS after completing five years’ service. Benefits for the scheme accrue at a rate of one-sixtieth of capped final pensionable pay for each year of membership.

Network Rail also offers a career average scheme, available to all employees. Benefits accrue at a rate of one-sixtieth of capped average pensionable pay per year of membership.

Over the past year Network Rail has capped pensionable pay by RPI plus 0.5 per cent to make the scheme more affordable. It has also introduced a new set of terms for those joining the scheme on or after 1 July 2012 and existing members who chose to switch.

The company’s defined contribution scheme had almost 6,670 members at the March end reporting date.

Network Rail matches employee contributions to the DC scheme, plus three per cent, up to a maximum company contribution of seven per cent of base salary. The average employer contribution last year was 5.6 per cent.

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