Policy paper

A railway fit for Britain's future: government response – executive summary

Published 5 November 2025

Foreword

Declining public trust and pride in today’s railway are symptoms of a system which has lost sight of the very people and customers it is meant to serve. A railway that, for 3 decades, has been focused on contracts and codes rather than the needs of its customers and taxpayers.

Britain deserves a railway fit for its future. One that restores a lost sense of pride and rebuilds the trust of each and every one of its passengers, with a relentless focus on their needs and the growth of their communities. As Transport Secretary, delivering this change is one of my top priorities. This vision is already becoming a reality as we bring more operators back into public ownership. But the outdated model of franchising and structural fragmentation still inhibits how the railway is run.

To fix this, we will introduce a new Railways Bill to fundamentally reform the sector and establish Great British Railways (GBR) as its directing mind.

GBR will deliver the leadership and long-term strategic thinking the sector sorely needs. There will be no more red tape or contracts to hide behind: GBR will be unambiguously accountable to its customers for the service it provides. It will have clear targets on service performance and quality it must meet and real consequences where it does not. The new streamlined and simplified structure will make it easier for GBR to take decisions that reflect the needs of the passengers and communities it serves, while also maximising the economic and environmental benefits from opportunities such as rail freight. Our reforms will also enable staff to get on with delivering a better railway for all users, ensuring the benefits of their hard work can truly be realised.

These structural changes will provide the foundations for a transformed sector. This means passengers up and down the country will once again be able to rely on our railway, knowing that their interests are firmly at its heart and feel the benefits through improved performance, reliability and value for money.

Importantly, they will also deliver a railway which can maximise the social, economic and environmental value of every pound passengers pay and taxpayers invest. This means a railway that puts its customers first, that connects families and friends and that supports the diversity of Britain’s economy, from tourism to steel, banking to housebuilding. A railway that reduces congestion, keeps supermarket fridges stocked and contributes to cleaner air.

The government’s Plan for Change requires a high performing railway to drive economic growth and support the creation of new jobs and new homes. GBR will improve reliability, generate better usage of our trains and reduce public subsidy.

The views received from passengers, industry stakeholders, and taxpayers on our public consultation have been fundamental in shaping the Railways Bill and putting our railways back on track. This government Response sets out our final plans for this landmark legislation, taking us one step closer to delivering a railway fit for Britain’s future and one that we can all be proud of.

Rt Hon Heidi Alexander MP

Secretary of State for Transport

Our vision: a railway fit for Britain’s future

This year marks 200 years since the birth of the modern railway. We rightly reflect on the railways as a core part of our national identity; a British technological revolution which supercharged growth, drove opportunity, and brought the country together in a way never possible before. Today, those images of steam and steel, progress and new horizons, have faded to delay, dysfunction and decline. Britain deserves better.

As this government presses ahead with a decade of national renewal, our reforms will ensure the railway is once again a source of pride. We will deliver a reliable and efficient railway that gives passengers and taxpayers a better deal, driving the economic growth this country needs to raise living standards and investment in our public services. A railway that connects communities up and down the country, providing people with greater choice about where they work and spend their time. A railway that keeps goods flowing, ports bustling and reduces congestion on our roads.

We have taken that mission seriously from the beginning. On day one of the new Parliament, we brought forward the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, paving the way for a railway that, after three decades of privatisation, puts the public first. Services from South Western Railway, c2c and Greater Anglia have already come into public ownership under this legislation and by the middle of next year 80% of passenger journeys the department is responsible for will be made on a publicly owned service. Despite public ownership delivering this platform for change, our ability to deliver true reform remains hampered by a railway still rooted in the failed franchising model. It is a model which has instilled spiralling taxpayer subsidy, vague accountabilities and poor democratic oversight over how decisions are made. It has left behind a culture focused on regulation over delivery, where staff are confronted by a myriad of contracts and regulatory hurdles to make even simple decisions in the best interests of customers. That is why, earlier this year, we consulted on the legislation that will pave the way for the fundamental reform the sector desperately needs.

Great British Railways (GBR) is at the centre of these plans. A new publicly owned company that will be at the core of the reformed rail industry, it will unite responsibility for providing safe and reliable passenger services with efficiently managing infrastructure as a critical UK asset. GBR will usher in a new, agile and commercial industry structure, charged with delivering the Transport Secretary’s agenda, from improving performance and growing revenue, to unlocking new house-building opportunities and increasing the use of rail freight.

At the same time, we will deliver a democratic and common-sense approach to running and regulating the sector. The layers of bureaucracy and unnecessary burdens that have taken hold since privatisation will be stripped back. The new model will provide true democratic accountability and cement a better approach to running the railways, with the focus squarely on customers. With GBR at their heart, our plans will deliver on the Transport Secretary’s six objectives for a reformed railway – reliable, affordable, efficient, high quality, accessible and safe.

Reliable

By bringing the management of track and train together to improve performance, with GBR managing day-to-day operations and taking long-term decisions in the public interest.

Affordable

Ensuring the railway works for both passengers and taxpayers to deliver financial sustainability and value for money, with clear oversight of fares by the Transport Secretary and safeguarding of railcards.

Efficient

By doing away with more than a dozen existing rail bodies whose functions will move into GBR, reducing duplication and ridding the sector of the current fragmented web of interfaces and competing interests.

High quality

With a powerful watchdog to champion passengers’ interests, equipped with tough powers to investigate issues, settle disputes, and highlight where improvements for all passengers can be made.

Accessible

Maximising integration across the whole rail network so that disabled and all other passengers get a safe and reliable service while removing barriers and delivering accessibility improvements in a more joined-up way.

Safe

Ensuring everyone feels safe when travelling on the railways while preserving our world-leading culture of rail safety, with oversight by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR).

This government has set a clear ambition for our railways: to make them fit for Britain’s future. From the millions who use the network to travel every day, to the thousands of suppliers – big and small – whose businesses keep the railways on track, the need for fundamental reform is clearly recognised. Bold, decisive action is needed to fully unlock the potential of our railway and drive forward the government’s missions to kickstart economic growth, break down barriers to opportunity and make Britain a clean energy superpower.

Informed by over 2,300 consultation responses, this document sets out the legislative changes that will unlock that transformation and provides the government’s detailed response to the feedback we have received.

The railway today

The need for reform

Today’s railway simply cannot deliver the improvements its customers and taxpayers rightly expect to see. Despite the best efforts of those working on the front line, the contractual nature of our railway, the vacuum of leadership and absence of true accountability means our railway has lost sight of the needs of those it serves. And the result is clear: customers and taxpayers are getting a bad deal for the fares they pay and the billions they invest.

Overcrowding, delays and cancellations are an all too familiar story for millions of passengers day-in-day-out, with a fares and ticketing system that is difficult to navigate for even the most seasoned travellers. The consequences of this are not just measured in time lost or money wasted. Every time the system fails to deliver means yet another family dinner put on hold, a medical appointment missed, or a business meeting cancelled. The railway can’t make the changes customers and taxpayers rightly deserve to see without legislative reform.

Driving this failure is a model which, for 3 decades, has prioritised extracting dividends over reinvestment and public service. It is a model which has fragmented the sector across more than 17 different organisations, with hardworking staff forced to go from pillar to post to try to get the best results for passengers within a system that is fundamentally not set up for them to succeed. It incentivises rigid and siloed thinking, a deeply embedded adversarial culture and results in an entire sector unable to seize new opportunities to drive genuine change – meaning improvements are hard to embed even when there is agreement they are needed. The country saw these effects most acutely in 2018, where the absence of clear accountability and inability to manage systemic risks meant that the May timetable collapsed, triggering chaos and misery for the travelling public on a huge scale. Even when train operators were delivering profits, the old franchising model meant that much of this money was handed over to shareholders rather than being reinvested back into the system.

This broken model has been embedded over the years within an increasingly complex regulatory system, with each iteration consolidating a structure which delivers conflicting accountabilities and unclear leadership, ultimately selling customers and staff short. Excessive red tape blocks innovation before it can even begin and an engrained culture of blame when things go wrong prevents real change and improvement. But despite these huge challenges, up and down the railway, there are examples of staff delivering genuine improvements for customers; we want to create a rail system that supports these efforts, making them the rule, not the exception.

Blame game

Conflicting priorities, complex contractual relationships, and a lack of clear accountability have resulted in the allocation of resource and effort towards identifying who is to blame when things go wrong. For example, a 2020 report found that Network Rail and train operating companies (TOCs) were employing hundreds of full-time staff to establish who should cover the cost of delays, leading to inefficiency for both users and government.

GBR will provide a clear point of accountability for performance, doing away with the adversarial nature of the current system and focusing on getting the best possible outcomes for passengers and freight customers.

How many rail sector bodies does it take to change a lightbulb?

At most stations, TOCs are responsible for maintenance (including changing light bulbs) while repair responsibility sits with Network Rail. When a faulty light is reported, the TOC sends out its contractor to investigate what has happened. If the contractor determines that the fault is not due to a blown bulb and instead requires a repair, the TOC contractor will report back to the TOC, who will let Network Rail know. Network Rail will then send out its own contractor to repair the issue. This system results in additional cost (due to multiple contracts) and worse customer experience (the light takes longer to fix). In future, GBR will be responsible for asset management activities at most stations, taking a cost efficient, joined-up approach to station asset management.

Making the most of the railway

On the busiest parts of the network, demand is high, space is tight, and choices really matter, but today’s system doesn’t plan for that. On major national routes like the East Coast Main Line, timetables are often built by trying to piece together layers of past decisions and contractual rights. This means even when a timetable can be agreed, it may not make full use of upgraded infrastructure or reflect how travel patterns have changed since the pandemic.

For example, many passengers interchange between services at Guildford when travelling from Reading towards London. Fragmented planning and contractual rights have resulted in no consideration of the timing of that interchange, with connections often only passenger-friendly by chance at times of disruption. An effective interchange would not only improve the experience of the many passengers who make this journey each day but also encourage more people to use the railways, increasing revenue, reducing congestion on the local road network and supporting the government’s net zero goals.

The establishment of GBR gives us a chance to realise this in the future. GBR will be able to shape timetables with the whole network in mind. It will honour existing rights, but it will allow smarter decisions about how new services are added, what trade-offs are worth making and how to build a railway that runs more reliably, carries more people and goods, and delivers better value for the country.

Leaves on the line

Where trains are delayed due to leaves on the line, Network Rail is usually responsible for paying the related performance penalties and other associated costs. Train operators, therefore, have little incentive to fit additional sanding equipment on their trains that would help reduce the problem of leaves on the line and improve performance.

By bringing together track and train under GBR’s leadership, the misaligned incentives which prevent customer focused decisions being taken will be removed. Instead, GBR will focus on whatever delivers the best service for all customers.

We regret to inform you…

Passengers have become all too familiar with announcements that their train has been cancelled at the last minute due to a shortage of staff. This is because train operators currently have little incentive to plan how to staff services for the long term and no single body is responsible for training and developing train staff at a strategic level. GBR will be able to take long-term decisions focused on passengers, not profit – including creating more flexible and resilient workforce plans to cut down on cancellations.

The power you’re supplying (it’s not electrifying)

The programme to electrify the Great Western Main Line by 2017 was delivered significantly over budget, three years behind schedule, and ultimately de-scoped. The National Audit Office was heavily critical of both the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail, describing a lack of joined up thinking during the project. Despite the project being de-scoped, it was still £1.2 billion over budget and that bill was picked up by the taxpayer.

Integrating responsibility for the railway will mean GBR will oversee all aspects of a project like this and be the one body ultimately accountable for its delivery. It will be able to take a more joined-up approach to planning major improvements.

What’s in motion

The government has already made major steps in its rail reform agenda. We have acted swiftly to pass the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, which will enable us to bring all franchised passenger services into public ownership by October 2027. Shadow GBR continues to bring together the leaders of the publicly owned railway (the Department for Transport, Network Rail and the DfT Operator) to start to unlock the benefits of integration between track and train. We have also already begun putting passengers back at the heart of our railways again. Latest performance data can now be found at over 1,700 stations, reflecting a new era of transparency and accountability to help rebuild passengers’ trust and drive up performance. Passengers across Greater Manchester and the West Midlands will soon join many stations in the south east, benefiting from a simpler way to travel as the rollout of pay-as-you-go ticketing promises to transform the customer experience. Passengers can use their tickets on another publicly owned operator at no extra cost during disruption and are now able to make cheaper journeys with expanded availability of advanced fares across LNER, Northern and TransPennine Express.

While public ownership and Shadow GBR provide a solid platform to make changes now, the need for deeper structural reform means there is a limit to the progress we can make without further legislation. Without reform, taxpayers would continue to be left with the absurd reality of footing the bill for a railway they own and pay for, being fractured across 17 different industry bodies. The current system is fundamentally not set up to work together to best serve the needs of local communities, passengers and customers. Wholesale reform is needed and that is what this government will deliver.

Our plan for change: a new Railways Bill

The legislative framework that has built up since privatisation is a complex web of rules and requirements, beginning with the Railways Act 1993.

The government will change the fundamental basis of that act to create GBR and deliver the necessary changes to support a predominantly publicly owned and operated network. The Railways Bill will provide the legislative foundation for a transformed rail sector structure. Our reforms will sweep away much of the complex, bureaucratic and outdated web of regulations and requirements introduced since privatisation and create a more agile sector with the right culture and incentives. It will be rooted in the public interest, balancing the need for a streamlined sector with the Transport Secretary’s 6 key objectives, with a particular focus on ensuring our railways are safe and accessible for all.

For any transformation this significant, it is vital the transition is as smooth and efficient as possible for passengers, freight customers and businesses. As a result, arrangements will be provided for in legislation to ensure a safe and smooth transition to the GBR model that works for the sector.

A new industry landscape

The Railways Bill will consolidate functions currently spread across at least 17 different industry bodies into GBR. This will include – among others – responsibility for passenger services, infrastructure management, decisions on the use of network capacity, supporting functions currently performed by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and ownership of the customer experience.

This will mean that, after decades under a fragmented model, there will be a single body accountable for the overall performance of the railway and the experience of its customers. This, in turn, will drastically reduce duplication of regulation and process, increase purchasing power and economies of scale and make it easier and cheaper to plan maintenance, renewals and upgrades. Meanwhile, the wider sector and supply chain will benefit from fewer interfaces to navigate, clarity of direction and greater long-term certainty.

Similarly, we want to have a more rational and streamlined framework for setting technical standards on the railway that weighs up the cost to taxpayers and passengers against each benefit. We are pursuing this outside the Railways Bill and will consult on proposals in due course.

A new directing mind

GBR will be at the core of the reformed railway. It will bring together responsibility for track and train under a single organisation, planning and running the railway as one connected system and delivering benefits for passengers, freight customers and taxpayers. It will operate the railway in the public interest, running publicly owned passenger services and managing access to the network in line with its duties and strategic direction set by ministers. It will drive and deliver efficiencies, be incentivised to grow revenue and make decisions with a long-term, whole-system financial perspective.

Setting direction

GBR’s purpose as the directing mind for the railways in Great Britain will be established in the Railways Bill through the provision of a clear set of statutory functions. GBR will be subject to a streamlined set of general statutory duties, which will apply across the breadth of its statutory functions, thereby establishing how GBR will deliver on its purpose as the directing mind. These general duties will also apply, where relevant, to the Transport Secretary, the ORR and devolved ministers to ensure consistency across the system. This will include duties relating to passengers and accessibility, freight, performance and the public interest. A new access framework will also be established in law, enabling GBR to take access and charging decisions.

GBR will be steered by the objectives and outcomes set by the Transport Secretary via a new long-term rail strategy (LTRS) and by Scottish ministers within the Scottish Government’s rail strategy. The Railways Bill will set out a new Periodic Review (PR) funding process, under which the Transport Secretary and Scottish ministers will set a statement of objectives and will sign off GBR’s integrated business plans. The Transport Secretary (as the funder of GBR’s infrastructure in Wales) will be required to consult Welsh ministers in the preparation of both the LTRS and her statement of objectives to ensure Welsh ministers have an opportunity to influence GBR’s objectives in Wales and promote alignment with their objectives for Transport for Wales (TfW).

While ministers will set its overarching objectives and strategic direction, GBR will be an empowered organisation with the independence and expertise to balance customer, planning, and operational needs. It will be a commercial and agile company. Where consistent with its objectives and duties, it will be able to seek out opportunities that deliver benefits for customers and reduce costs to the taxpayer. GBR will be incentivised to deliver wider social good, balancing its objectives and available funding to achieve wider benefits such as housing, net zero and regional growth across the country.

A further benefit of consolidating accountabilities under GBR is an industry that is more responsive to local priorities. GBR will collaborate with local partners to bring decision-making as close to communities as possible. It will work in partnership with mayoral strategic authorities (MSAs), enabling genuine local influence and control to support multimodal integration and the development of local public transport networks. Legislation will play a role in ensuring that national and local strategies are factored into GBR decision-making. GBR will also be required to consult devolved governments and MSAs on certain significant changes to rail passenger services, have regard to their transport strategies and share certain information.

Integrating track and train locally

GBR will be structured to focus on delivering for its customers locally. Business Units will be the powerhouse of the organisation, bringing together today’s infrastructure management functions provided by Network Rail, and passenger operations currently led by TOCs, into a single local team, providing a locally focused ‘face of the railway’ and managing track and train together. This will provide a single point of leadership for local stakeholders and devolved leaders, as well as enabling the development of local initiatives to encourage more people to use the railway.

To fulfil the government’s vision of GBR being a ‘directing mind’, some functions will need to sit centrally in the organisation. This will provide a whole system approach that ensures the government’s outcomes are delivered and maximises value from the system. GBR’s network organisation will take on this role and have overall accountability for railway outcomes. It will set the strategic, planning and financial frameworks that its business units will operate within, aligned to the LTRS set by the Transport Secretary.

The network will deliver nationally co-ordinated initiatives to drive customer satisfaction, patronage and revenue growth and house GBR’s strategic freight unit. A new strategic system operator function will administer GBR’s access and use policy (AUP), lead the industry timetabling process and drive integrated system-wide decision making. It will also manage GBR’s finances in line with the framework set by the government and provide direction to business units on business planning and financial management.

Streamlining regulation

GBR will be accountable for the performance of the railway. It will have clear targets and will be held to account for delivery first and foremost by its chair and board. The Transport Secretary will appoint the chair and will have a role in shaping the board to ensure it is equipped to deliver this vision.

GBR will operate under a streamlined regulatory framework that recognises its unique position as a publicly owned company managing the rail network in the public interest. It will be subject to a single, streamlined licence covering its activities across all its assets. This will be issued by the Transport Secretary and will comprise a targeted set of conditions focused on the key outcomes expected of GBR – particularly around passenger experience, industry obligations and standards that GBR must fulfil or facilitate. The licence will be independently enforced by the ORR. The Passenger Watchdog will monitor compliance with consumer standards made binding on operators via licence conditions. GBR’s draft licence will be subject to public consultation. We expect to consult on a draft version of the licence following the introduction of the Railways Bill and for it to be finalised once the legislation has received Royal Assent.

We are clear that getting the best use of the network must be driven by the people who own and maintain it, those who can prioritise and adjust capacity in the best interests of all users of the railway. Therefore, GBR will take on the decision-making responsibilities of overseeing access to and use of the network and how much operators who use it pay to access it. It is essential that decisions are made within a clear and transparent framework and that GBR is held accountable for sticking to it. That is why legislation will establish the ORR as an appeals body, ensuring GBR’s capacity allocation, access and charging decisions are in line with its duties and that GBR has had the appropriate regard for interventions from ministers (such as guidance) and its own published AUP. The ORR will advise the Transport Secretary and Scottish ministers on GBR’s financial settlement, awarded via the new PR and will continue to regulate the whole industry, including GBR, for health and safety. It will continue to oversee licensing of all non-GBR entities, as it does today.

Establishing GBR

The establishment of GBR is complex, bringing together a number of TOCs, the DfT Operator, Network Rail and parts of the RDG. We intend to amalgamate the DfT Operator, its TOC subsidiaries and parts of the RDG into Network Rail’s group structure. This will avoid making the establishment of GBR dependent on highly complex transfers of Network Rail’s historic assets to another body, which would cause unnecessary delay.

GBR will be a new organisation, with a new culture and mindset from the very beginning, drawing in a greater diversity of skills and experience from the sector and beyond. We are committed to making GBR an employer of choice, where working on the railways is not just a job, but a career people take pride in.

Derby will become the heart of our rail network as the home of GBR. The national headquarters will bring high-skilled jobs to a city already brimming with rail industry talent. Derby already has well-established connections with the rail industry, supply chain and customers, as well as an extensive local cluster of private sector rail businesses. Existing centres of excellence across the network, including Birmingham, Manchester, London, Milton Keynes and York, will serve as hubs for decision making and industry leadership.

Putting passengers back at the heart of our railways

We know passengers want a reliable railway that delivers value for money and a quality service. GBR will, therefore, place a relentless focus on passenger experience, guided by its statutory duties and incentivised to grow its revenue by providing a service that all passengers want to use. The new, streamlined regulatory framework will give GBR the freedom to own the overall customer offer, while ensuring the right mechanisms are in place to hold it to account on passengers’ behalf if it falls short. The Railways Bill will just be the start of embedding this relentless passenger focus within GBR. Work is already underway to ensure that delivering for passengers is also central to GBR’s culture and organisational design.

An independent voice for passengers

A strong advocate is needed in a reformed railway to ensure the passenger’s voice is heard at every step and that GBR consistently delivers excellent services. Legislation will pave the way for a powerful passenger watchdog to be established from Transport Focus to champion improvements across rail services. It will protect and advocate for all passengers’ interests and rights, offer advice, ensure the continued provision of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service for unresolved passenger complaints and independently monitor passenger experience, holding operators to account and reporting on its findings publicly and transparently. This will bring roles and functions currently split across the ORR, Transport Focus and the Rail Ombudsman (RO) into one place, simplifying the consumer landscape and making it easier for passengers to navigate, while preserving the expertise these bodies have built up over many years.

GBR is expected to succeed in delivering for the passenger and will have every incentive to do so. If it does not, the watchdog will have tough investigation powers and will be able to demand data and information from GBR and other operators to expose issues where passengers feel they are being let down. This could help highlight – for example – a pattern of defective ticket machines, persistent issues at particular locations or routes, failures to provide information during disruption or common issues faced by passengers on complex fares and tickets.

GBR and the government will be expected to consider the watchdog’s advice when making decisions, writing policies and setting strategies which affect passengers. In some cases, there will be a legal obligation to consult the watchdog. That means when decisions are made, passengers will have an independent voice fighting their corner, ensuring a continued provision of an independent service to help passengers pursue unresolved complaints when they are unsatisfied with GBR or another operator’s response.

In line with consultation feedback, the watchdog will also have the ability to set and monitor passenger experience standards, which are conferred on operators through consumer licence conditions. This will mean it can amend or develop guidance and codes of practice in the areas of accessible travel policies, passenger information, complaints and delay compensation, ensuring it is equipped to drive forward improvements for all passengers. All operators, including GBR, will be required to meet these minimum standards and the watchdog will be able to escalate issues to the ORR for enforcement action where necessary.

Simplifying fares and ticketing

The current landscape of fares and ticketing is overly complex and has lost the trust of passengers. With 55 million fares available (PDF), it can be hard to know what ticket to buy, how to buy it, whether it will be accepted and whether it represents the best value for money. This is partly the result of the historic, fragmented approach to the railways – where the ticket offer was more reflective of how the multitude of private operators preferred to receive their revenue, than of how passengers preferred to travel. For example, between Coventry and Birmingham, passengers face 5 different ticket options for a day return and it can be unclear which tickets are valid on which services.

We are already making progress on improving this for passengers – including with the expansion of Pay As You Go schemes across the country and the success of fares trials on LNER services and public ownership is already helping to reduce confusion for passengers. For example, when disruption occurs, it has not always been clear if passengers can use their ticket to hop on an alternative train. We have made it easier for tickets to be used interchangeably across some publicly owned operators.

Once GBR is established, we will be able to go further and faster. GBR will consolidate the 14 existing operator websites into a single online platform that will compete alongside independent retailers. GBR will also be empowered to build on the reforms highlighted here to strip back the fragmentation created by franchising to deliver a fares system that is easy for all passengers to navigate and reflects how they want to travel.

A railway that is accessible for all

All too often, the railway has fallen short in delivering the services and assistance that disabled passengers rely on. This must change. The government recognises the importance of an accessible network and has clearly named accessibility as one of the Transport Secretary’s 6 key objectives for the railway. If this priority is to be met, GBR must succeed in serving the diverse needs of all passengers up and down the country.

Disabled passengers are a key priority within this and have directly felt the impacts of the current fragmented system, where the need to navigate a maze of competing operators has meant that they cannot always be sure they will have the right assistance across the whole of their journey. Consolidation of services under GBR will mean better coordination of end-to-end journeys for disabled passengers, which in turn will enable better delivery of safe and reliable passenger assistance.

Similarly, bringing together the operations of the various TOCs under GBR will make it easier to deliver consistent, simplified fares and ticketing for disabled passengers by removing the need for complex negotiations across multiple organisations. Alongside ticket offices, an integrated, accessible and user-friendly GBR website and app will also make it easier for disabled passengers to navigate bookings, reducing the number of interfaces they have to deal with. 

Integrated decision making will also enable GBR to leverage greater resources in its approach to decisions, procurement, and prioritisation. For example, GBR will be able to provide more consistency around future specifications for new rolling stock to better reflect the needs of disabled passengers. By taking a whole-system approach to station management and delivering upgrades and enhancements across both track and train, GBR will be able to utilise resources more efficiently, removing the barriers faced by disabled passengers and delivering on accessibility objectives more effectively than under the current fragmented system. These integration benefits and accessibility improvements will make the railway easier to use not only for disabled passengers but also for groups such as passengers with reduced mobility and the elderly. Furthermore, our commitment to ensuring there will be a representative on the GBR board with responsibility for accessibility will make sure GBR is supported and held accountable for delivering a more accessible railway.   

The Railways Bill will provide the legislative foundation for this accountability. It will include a passenger and accessibility duty in primary legislation to ensure GBR factors in the needs and interests of disabled passengers when carrying out its statutory functions. This is one of the general duties, which will also be applied to the Transport Secretary, Scottish and Welsh ministers and the ORR, ensuring focus and consistency by embedding accessibility in the legislative foundations of the whole system – with all these bodies required to take disabled passengers into account when making decisions across the railway.

The GBR licence will also require GBR to meet minimum standards for how its passenger services will serve disabled passengers, with the ORR ready to take action if it falls short. The content of GBR’s licence will be defined outside legislation and will be subject to public consultation before being finalised. The draft licence brought forward for consultation will outline a requirement for GBR to engage with stakeholders, including relevant accessibility stakeholders.

These measures and provisions will enhance and strengthen existing protections such as the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee’s (DPTAC) role as an expert, statutory advisor to the Transport Secretary and the department, as well as key regulatory standards including the Rail Vehicle Accessibility (Non-Interoperable Rail System) Regulations 2010 and the design standards for accessible railway stations. The bill will also protect discount schemes like the Disabled Persons Railcard.

However, the government is not waiting for the Railways Bill to continue delivering meaningful improvements for disabled passengers. This is why we have published an accessibility roadmap setting out the actions being taken in the lead up to GBR, demonstrating that improving rail accessibility and delivering better services and assistance continues to be a priority for the government. The roadmap includes key activities and deliverables that are already underway such as the Access for All programme, which has delivered over 260 additional step free stations, with more underway, but it also includes new ideas and initiatives – such as extending the eligibility criteria for the Disabled Persons Rail Card to make it available to a wider range of disabled people, as well as a small, dedicated funding stream that will deliver a series of projects with the aim of making the day-to-day travelling experience for disabled people easier so they can travel with greater confidence.

A financially sustainable railway

For decades, taxpayers have provided funding for a railway that fails to meet the standards they rightly expect. Conflicting priorities and interests from competing arms of the sector have led to inefficiencies, misaligned incentives and a lack of focus on what really matters: delivering a railway that works. This has not only eroded confidence in the railway, letting down passengers and freight customers, but has also left taxpayers picking up the slack. Despite recovering passenger numbers following the pandemic, taxpayer funding for the day-to-day running of the railway is more than double pre-pandemic levels. This is clearly unsustainable, which is why GBR will be tasked with maximising cost efficiency, improving financial sustainability and growing revenue to reduce this financial subsidy and ensure a fair deal for taxpayers. This will also allow GBR to focus on increasing passenger numbers for the purpose of revenue generation, with the organisation incentivised to deliver for its customers rather than focusing on isolated aspects of the railway, as is the case under the current system.

Streamlined incentives

By bringing responsibility for track and train into one organisation, GBR will be incentivised to deliver for passengers, customers and taxpayers. GBR will be expected to achieve efficiencies and drive value from the improved coordination this integrated system offers. The new structure will encourage GBR to achieve this by removing the mixture of conflicting incentives across multiple organisations, meaning accountability will be focused on GBR to deliver results. Not only will this incentivise better strategic decision-making for the railway, the alignment of motivations and rewards within GBR will drive efficiency – ensuring financial sustainability and delivering for taxpayers are no longer an afterthought.  

The Transport Secretary, alongside Scottish ministers, will also incentivise strong financial performance from GBR to foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation. GBR will be incentivised to deliver high performance and will be rewarded through a framework agreed by the government.

Long-term confidence

The government recognises that certainty of funding is key to driving growth, better efficiency and value for money. It not only ensures GBR has the confidence to deliver for all passengers but provides certainty to the wider rail supply chain and to businesses across the country who rely on Britain’s railways. Having a tried and tested financial framework that instils confidence in the financial sustainability of the railways is key to providing a platform for innovation and greater efficiency within the sector.

That is why the government will retain many of the benefits generated by the established PR processes, by taking what works from this current process and adapting it for the publicly owned, integrated railway that GBR will direct. Doing this will reinforce confidence in GBR’s financial sustainability, empowering both GBR and the wider sector to maximise efficiency and promote innovation. This approach also ensures that taxpayers are not forgotten, with the ORR continuing to scrutinise the sufficiency and efficiency of the funding agreed via this process, meaning the government and Scottish ministers are fully equipped to maximise the value of the support taxpayers provide to the railways.

By establishing GBR with reformed incentives and a funding model that instils confidence, the government will deliver a more efficient, financially sustainable railway for passengers, customers and taxpayers. We are committed to delivering a railway that can once again be relied upon, not only to move passengers from A to B but to be a vital part of the growth, innovation and efficiency of the whole economy.

The railways as an engine for growth

As the directing mind, GBR will be empowered to make smarter decisions about how public money is spent by joining up business planning across track and train and leveraging the best of both the public and private sectors. This will unlock efficiencies and maximise the value of every single taxpayer pound for the public benefit. Additionally, GBR will have various tools at its disposal to increase revenue and grow passenger numbers, because it will be incentivised to focus on its own finances and customers’ experience holistically.

As well as helping to ensure GBR can run a better railway for all its customers, meeting the government’s objectives for the railway will unlock the full potential of Britain’s towns and cities up and down the country. Our proposals will improve connectivity, opening new opportunities for people and supporting the flow of goods across the country. This will help to build on the already considerable agglomeration benefits the railway delivers each year, improving productivity and access to labour markets across Great Britain.

By delivering customer-focused leadership, clear accountability for meeting the Transport Secretary’s LTRS and simplifying the complex industry processes and structure, a reformed railway will be more focused and able to grasp opportunities for growth. These include building on the momentum of the new government-owned company Platform4, delivering up to 40,000 new homes and putting the railway at the heart of regeneration and stations at the centre of communities. GBR’s ability and remit to break free from the short-termism today’s system incentivises will deliver stability and confidence to investors, making it easier to introduce innovation and seize new opportunities as they emerge.

The government’s reforms will put industry experts in the driving seat, grow a diverse, skilled workforce and unlock the long-term and strategic leadership the whole sector agrees is desperately needed. For the rail sector, the benefits could be substantial, with partners from freight, the supply chain and open access benefiting from GBR’s directing mind.

Rail freight

The government recognises the huge economic and environmental potential of rail freight to support our wider missions and is committed to growing the sector further. In 2023, rail freight accounted for 8% of UK domestic freight moved and this government is committed to realising the potential of this industry.

Rail freight is also critical to the UK’s economy and national resilience. It is already attractive to investors, creating jobs in the sector and wider supply chain that can support in delivery of the government’s number one mission to kickstart economic growth. As a sector with a wide geographic footprint, it can offer career pathways and progression to people right across the country, breaking down barriers to opportunity and raising living standards in regions outside London and the south east.

Rail freight is a crucial tool in bringing down overall transport emissions as we drive towards net zero, through both modal shift and transporting greener fuels that will allow other sectors to decarbonise. It will also play an important role in delivering the government’s housebuilding targets by efficiently transporting building materials across the length and breadth of the country. The sector is innovative and is already growing into new markets such as express services for parcels and medical consignments. Investors in the sector will be confident that under a reformed railway, the benefits of their investment will be realised in a way that the current complex web of regulation, contracts and codes does not always allow.

Recognising this vital contribution, the Railways Bill will apply a statutory duty to GBR, the ORR, the Transport Secretary and Scottish and Welsh ministers to promote the use of rail freight in Great Britain. The Transport Secretary will have a duty to publish a freight growth target and GBR will have a duty to have regard to it, alongside any freight growth target published by Scottish ministers (see chapter 1 for more detail). In addition, the Transport Secretary will have the power to issue directions to GBR when proportionate and justified and this power includes directions in relation to rail freight. Though not set out in the legislation, there will also be a representative on GBR’s board with responsibility for freight and a central freight team within GBR to give freight customers a single point of contact for promoting freight growth across the organisation.

Open access

Open access can help to deliver our vision by opening up new markets, increasing connectivity for passengers, and driving innovation across the rail industry to deliver growth. At its best, open access has harnessed the risk appetite of the private sector to exploit new opportunities that may be too risky for public investment, and we recognise the benefits many communities have seen from this.

However, in order to ensure we maximise the benefits from the whole network and deliver a railway that is more than the sum of its parts, we need to take a holistic approach to the network which drives the best possible value for passengers, customers, and taxpayers, and which remains responsive to the needs of all its users. We want GBR to be offering services the public need and want but we also want the private sector to seize the opportunities where its risk appetite and innovation can provide solutions a publicly owned company cannot. However, this needs to be delivered in a financially sustainable way, which takes into account the large amount of cross-subsidy across the network and balances the comparatively few profitable routes with the need for the broader financial sustainability of our railways.

Therefore, whilst open access will continue to play an important role on the network, it must genuinely add value that benefits the public and aligns with the overall strategy for growth on our railways set by the government and delivered by GBR. Existing access rights for open access operators will be honoured by GBR until the end of current contracts. This will ensure open access operators can continue to play their part in driving innovation and growth across our railways, while balancing the needs of passengers and taxpayers.

Open access will also continue to play a vital role in international passenger services between Great Britain and mainland Europe, which carried a record 11.2 million passengers in 2024. A number of potential new entrants have announced their ambitions to launch services to compete with Eurostar in the coming years. The government is committed to the continued growth and success of international rail services, which provide a greener means of travelling internationally, providing socio-economic benefits for both the UK and Europe. The government wants to see a thriving and competitive international rail services market, which will ultimately benefit all passengers in terms of greater choice and potentially lower fares.

These services will continue to be provided on an open access basis and the rules underpinning these operations will not be affected by the reforms planned under the Railways Bill. This will provide a level playing field for operators running services between Great Britain and the EU and ensure the UK’s obligations under bilateral treaties with France are protected, while also providing certainty, clarity and confidence to operators and investors.

Rolling stock

Rolling stock leasing companies (ROSCOs) play an important role in the industry, bringing benefits to both taxpayers and passengers. Since 1995, there has been significant private sector investment in rolling stock totalling over £20 billion, (PDF). Rolling stock owners have used their commercial, engineering and technical expertise to supply over 15,000 vehicles for passenger operators to meet passenger demand, improve efficiency and reduce delays.

However, under the current system, the interaction between operators and ROSCOs has been inefficient and ineffective. Each operator procuring different specifications of rolling stock from different companies has created challenges for production and has rendered delays in the delivery pipeline.

Therefore, under this new sector model, GBR will work with ROSCOs and manufacturers in a much more effective and streamlined way. By setting out a longer-term approach, we will sustain the manufacturing and assembly market and the jobs in it, give industry the confidence to innovate and back technologies that will help to meet our economic and environmental goals for the UK. The government’s public sector holding company and, in the longer term, GBR, will continue to lease existing rolling stock from ROSCOs where they can offer value for money terms. The government will develop a long-term industrial strategy for rolling stock, which will support manufacturing and ensure a stable pipeline of work. Once established, GBR will take a whole-system and long-term approach to using rolling stock across the network, providing certainty to manufacturers and rolling stock companies across the country and globally. Taking this approach to rolling stock will enable greater certainty and lower risk for the supply chain and will be a better way to secure value for money.

The Luxembourg Rail Protocol was signed by the UK in 2016, and the government remains committed to ratifying the protocol, given the clear benefits to unlocking greater private sector financing of rolling stock, securing inward investment and promoting UK rail. The government will, therefore, include a legislative power within the Railways Bill, which will enable the UK to ratify and implement the Protocol through secondary legislation to unlock its benefits. We are committed to a full consultation and impact assessment before implementing the protocol.

The supply chain

The supply chain is crucial for the day-to-day running, maintenance and development of the railway, supplying infrastructure, trains and other services to Network Rail, HS2 Ltd, train operators and manufacturers. Currently, Network Rail spends £8 billion with more than 4,000 rail suppliers each year, 75% of which are small and medium-sized and 99% of which are based in Britain. It also creates and maintains skilled jobs in signalling technology, engineering and innovation, and has an important role in helping government achieve its goals on decarbonisation, safety and passenger experience.

All of this will continue under the new sector model, but with the benefit of GBR’s strategic leadership, meaning better coordination between track and train, a centralised point of contact and greater long-term certainty for manufacturers and operators. Providing certainty for the sector is key to its long-term growth, there will therefore be no impact on international obligations and treaties to instil confidence throughout the rail supply chain.