Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Great British Railways
Planned British state-owned rail transport operator From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned state-owned railway company that will operate most rail infrastructure in Great Britain, most passenger rail services in England, and some cross-border passenger rail services in Scotland and Wales.[citation needed]
It will be established with the passing of the forthcoming Railways Bill, as part of the Starmer government's plans to re-nationalise the railways. It will absorb the functions of Network Rail to own and manage most railway infrastructure (stations, track and signalling), the Rail Delivery Group, the DfT Operator, parts of the Department for Transport, and each of the passenger service franchises, as their contracts expire.
Although the process of re-nationalising passenger services is already underway, with a shadow GBR body in place, the timescale for the formal establishment of GBR remains unclear, and is expected no earlier than late 2026. The chair of Shadow Great British Rail is Laura Shoaf.
Remove ads
Functions
GBR will be responsible for the operational delivery of the railways in the existing areas of Network Rail, i.e. England, Scotland and Wales. This will include passenger services; planning timetables; operation and maintenance of rolling stock; setting fares; and managing access to the network, including setting charges for existing and future open access operators. Also excluded are Transport for London, Merseyrail, ScotRail, Transport for Wales Rail, light rail and tram services.
At the same time, GBR will assume the existing responsibilities of Network Rail, to become the owner and manager of most railway infrastructure, including track and stations, across Great Britain.
The Rail Delivery Group and some functions of the Department for Transport (DfT) will also be integrated into the new organisation, which will be run as an arms-length body led by industry experts.[1]
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
Background
The railway system in Great Britain was originally built and run by private companies, until in 1947 the Attlee government nationalised the big four, forming British Railways. Following a series of reforms and attempted modernisations, in 1993 the Major government began a programme of privatisation of the railways. In 1994, ownership and maintenance of the infrastructure was transferred to a new company, Railtrack, which was overseen by a government-appointed Rail Regulator. The company was floated on the stock exchange in 1996 but the infrastructure was renationalised and transferred to Network Rail in 2002, after Railtrack effectively went bankrupt when its performance was criticised in the wake of the 2000 Hatfield crash.[2][3]
Beginning in 1996, passenger services moved piecemeal to a franchise system run by privately owned train operating companies (TOCs) such as FirstGroup and Arriva, with the DfT (DfT OLR Holdings) taking control of a service in cases of poor performance or financial trouble. Several TOCs, including Northern and TransPennine Express, were already under public control in this way prior to the announcement of the intention to form GBR, although this was intended to be temporary.[4][5] Transport for Wales Rail and ScotRail were also brought under public control by their devolved governments in 2021 and 2022 respectively.[6][7]
During 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, all TOCs entered into Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements with the UK and Scottish governments.[8] Normal franchise mechanisms were amended, transferring almost all revenue and cost risk to the government, effectively re-nationalising those services temporarily.[9][10] In September 2020, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps axed the rail franchising system, switching to direct National Rail Contracts (NRCs) to make way for long-term reform.[11]
Williams–Shapps Plan
In 2018, the Transport Secretary for the May government, Chris Grayling, announced a review into the rail system, led by businessman Keith Williams.[12] Published in 2021, the Williams–Shapps Rail Review recommended the formation of a new publicly owned Great British Railways organisation. The proposals included the introduction of a concession model where Passenger Service Contracts (PSCs) would be awarded to privately owned operators, while GBR would control fares and timetabling.[13]
In October 2022, the Transport Secretary for the short-lived Truss government, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, announced that the Transport Bill (which would have set up GBR) would not go ahead in the current parliamentary session.[14][15] In February 2023, the subsequent Transport Secretary for the Sunak government, Mark Harper, reaffirmed the government's commitment to GBR and rail reform.[16] The 2023 King's speech announced the progression of a draft Rail Reform Bill which would enable the establishment of GBR, although it was not timetabled in the parliamentary programme.[17] Harper later told the Transport Select Committee that the legislation was unlikely to reach royal assent within the 2023–2024 parliamentary session.[18]
In May 2024, the Public Accounts Committee reported the DfT had "achieved very little" on rail reform, and that the role of GBR remained unclear.[19]
Establishment
Prior to the 2024 general election, the Labour Party revealed their plan for rail reform under the same Great British Railways name, including re-nationalising passenger services, while preserving the role of open-access operators.[20] Each remaining service would come into public ownership by 2027 as TOC contracts expired, to avoid any cost in compensation,[21] reunifying passenger services and infrastructure under one publicly owned entity for the first time since the privatisation of British Rail. Freight services would remain privately owned,[21] and the rolling stock (the trains themselves) would remain privately owned by ROSCOs, citing the high cost of nationalisation.[21]
Following its election victory in 2024, the Starmer government announced that GBR would be established by two bills in the first parliamentary session: the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, to bring rail franchises into public ownership as their contracts expire, and the Railways Bill, to establish GBR to oversee the passenger and freight rail network.[22][23] The first of these was introduced by Transport Secretary Louise Haigh on 18 July 2024.[24] In September 2024, the Government formed a shadow body to start the work of GBR in advance of its legal establishment.[25][26] Its chair is Laura Shoaf,[27] previously the managing director of Transport for West Midlands.
In November 2024 with the passing of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, the publicly owned DfT Operator, previously the fallback operator in the franchise system, became the preferred operator.[28] South Western Railway (SWR) was the first planned nationalisation, coming under public control on 25 May 2025, with some trains receiving a GBR-branded "coming soon" livery.[29] The first SWR service under public ownership was a rail replacement bus due to planned engineering works.[29]
Remove ads
Headquarters
The government promised to base the organisation outside London to promote economic growth and skills in a region outside the capital.[30] In February 2022, the DfT launched a public consultation for the location of GBR's headquarters.[31] In total, 42 towns and cities submitted expressions of interest.[32]
A shortlist comprising Birmingham, Crewe, Derby, Doncaster, Newcastle upon Tyne, and York was announced in July 2022,[33] using the following criteria: alignment with "levelling up" objectives; connected and easy to get to; opportunities for GBR; railway heritage and links to the network; value for money; and public support.[33] A public vote was held following the announcement.[33]
In March 2023, then Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced Derby as the headquarters location.[34][35]
Branding
The 2021 Williams-Shapps plan recommended that GBR should use modified forms of British Rail's Double Arrow symbol and Rail Alphabet typeface – Rail Symbol 2 and Rail Alphabet 2 respectively – for its branding, to achieve a single, unifying brand for railways. It proposed that this would be a gradual rebranding over time. English regions, Scotland, and Wales would have their own variants, but these would still emphasise the national nature of GBR. The white paper did not specify whether the branding of devolved railways such as London Overground and Merseyrail would be affected.[36]
Remove ads
Constituent parts
Summarize
Perspective
The following entities are expected be integrated into GBR following its establishment:
- Network Rail – the railway infrastructure manager. It was founded following the collapse of the privately-owned Railtrack. GBR will be formed from Network Rail and take over the management of all train stations and track.[1]
- DfT Operator – the state-owned holding company which currently is responsible for taking over train operating companies that are being returned to public ownership under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024.
- The train operators managed by DfT Operator (which includes LNER, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine Express, South Western Railway and c2c) will also be integrated into GBR. Additionally the remaining privately owned TOCs will be taken over by DfT Operator and eventually integrated into GBR.
- Rail Delivery Group – a railway industry umbrella organisation which brings together passenger and freight rail companies. The RDG is also responsible for the National Rail brand and its enquiries service. Its other functions include: delivery of fares, ticketing and retail programmes. These functions will be integrated into GBR.[1]
- Office of Rail and Road (some functions) – GBR is expected to take over some of the railway functions of the ORR which include the management of track access to open-access operators.[1]
The following entities are expected to remain operationally independent from GBR:
- ScotRail – operates most local passenger services in Scotland. Originally privatised with the rest of British Rail in the 1990s, it was returned to public ownership by the Scottish Government in 2022 and is currently managed by Transport Scotland.[1]
- Transport for Wales Rail – operates most local passenger services in Wales. It took over services on the Wales & Borders franchise from KeolisAmey Wales in 2021 when the Welsh government decided return train services to public ownership. TfW Rail currently runs as a subsidiary of Transport for Wales.[1]
- Open-access operators – operate services on some routes and are not subject to franchising. These currently include Lumo, Hull Trains, Grand Central, Gatwick Express and Eurostar. It is expected that these operators will continue to run services following GBR's establishment.[37]
- Locally-devolved railways such as London Overground and Merseyrail.[1]
Remove ads
See also
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads