Great British Railways consultation launched

Head Office Circular No: NP/039/25 (Corrected number)

 

27^th February 2025

 

To: The Secretary

ALL BRANCHES

REGIONAL COUNCILS

 

Dear colleague,

 

Great British Railways consultation launched

 

On 18^th February, the government published the consultation on its proposals for legislation to establish Great British Railways, which will be an ‘integrated, publicly owned railway.’

 

This consultation is the next stage in the process of bringing passenger services back into a nationalised railway and it follows the landmark Passenger Rail Services (Public Ownership) Act, passed in December last year and the announcements that the first private train operating companies will be brought into public ownership between May and September this year. Secretary of State Heidi Alexander said that she had told officials at the Department for Transport she expects Great British Railways (GBR) to be operational by the start of 2027. The government also expects the last franchised train operating company to be in public ownership by October 2027. 

 

The consultation will run until 15^th April, after which legislation is expected to be published in draft by July 2025. The consultation and the legislation are complex, reflecting the challenges of reintegrating 30 years of fragmentation and privatisation. However, the key points in the consultation are summarised below.

 

• Great British Railways will be a new single organisation responsible for running infrastructure and passenger services in the public interest and ‘bringing together activities from more than 17 existing organisations – including Network Rail, the Rail Delivery Group, the DfT operator [the existing publicly owned train operating companies], parts of the Department for Transport and 14 separate Train operating companies’. The internal structure of the new organisation is not elaborated in the consultation but it will ‘unite track and train’ in a single organisation.
• The DfT will step back from operational management of the railway and GBR will have greater operating space, directed by a Board but the Secretary of State will still set the strategic direction and issue guidance and will appoint the Board.
• Devolution is a complex issue in the consultation. In relation to Scotland and Wales, it appears that the government has not sought a final resolution and has instead opted to leave both out of GBR for the time being. Although both must now have public sector operators, these will continue to be outside GBR but the legislation will be drafted to allow the possibility that they might become part of GBR at a later date. The Scottish government will continue to be able to allocate their own funds to Scotrail and Caledonian Sleeper and GBR in Scotland. The Welsh government will receive funding for Transport for Wales from the England and Wales settlement through GBR and the Secretary of State will have a duty to consult the Welsh government. 
• In line with the vision set out in its policy document Getting Britain Moving, the government proposes the creation of a new passenger watchdog, bringing together the functions of Transport Focus, some functions of the ORR and the Rail Ombudsman. 
• The regime of access charges between Network Rail and train operators will disappear for GBR’s operations. However, while franchised passenger operations will come into GBR, other bodies will still have to access the infrastructure, including freight companies, devolved operators and, for the time being at least Open Access operators. Access will be granted by GBR, which will also set charges. The ORR will lose its role in regulating access, a role that stemmed from its function as a market regulator tasked with promoting competition on the railway. Instead the ORR’s function will be reduced to that of an appeals body, with its terms of reference defined in new legislation and guidance. The ORR’s ability to reverse a GBR decision will be highly limited. The role of Open Access remains unclear and is likely to be a major issue in the consultation. While the consultation states that Open Access operators can still have a role in certain circumstances, it is significant that future access will now be controlled by GBR rather than the ORR. In addition, in recent weeks, the government appears to have at least partially reflected RMT’s concerns about the possible expansion of Open Access by writing to the ORR and indicating that it opposes 8 out of 9 recent applications.   
• Funding will be allocated through 5-year Periodic Review processes, as with Network Rail now, but again, the ORR’s role in allocating this will be reduced to monitoring delivery of GBR’s business plan. 
• GBR will assume responsibility for setting fares on GBR services, although the Secretary of State will retain their role in securing the overall affordability of fares. The government intends to simplify fares and integrate ticketing. Legislation will protect discounts and concessions, while the Secretary of State will retain a role in fare setting as part of GBR’s funding settlements. GBR will provide ticketing services directly and it has confirmed that  ‘this will include online and physical retail, such as ticket offices, ticket vending machines, and on trains.’ The consultation also makes clear that GBR will have a unified website and app of its own, competing with Third Party retailers.  
• Mayoral authorities with their own devolved transport, such as TfL and Merseyrail will be left outside GBR. The government proposes to align GBR with its English devolution agenda by giving Mayors a statutory role in determining services within GBR in their authorities. In addition the legislation is proposed to enable a variety of ‘local commissioning partnerships’ between Mayoral authorities and GBR that are designed to promote muti-modal integration at city level without sacrificing GBR’s ability to act as a strategic national directing mind. 

 

The consultation makes clear that the government intends to follow through with the vision set out in Labour’s Getting Britain Moving document and will create a publicly owned and integrated railway, uniting track and train in a single organisation for passenger services and infrastructure management. There is clearly much to be determined still and many improvements to be won but the NEC considered a report on the consultation and made the following decision: 

 

“That we note the publication of the consultation and after over 30 years of rail privatisation we welcome proposals that will reintegrate rail operations and infrastructure into one publicly owned company which we have long campaigned for and which could be established within the first term of a Labour government. We should regard this as a victory.

       However, we also restate our position that we support the complete renationalisation of the railways including campaigning for publicly owned GBR to absorb rolling stock, train manufacturing, rail freight, open access operations and also an end to outsourcing. 

       We instruct the general secretary to respond to the consultation in line with union policy and place any unresolved areas of policy back before us for consideration as necessary. We also instruct the general secretary to produce a circular for Branches outlining the proposals. 

       Finally, the General Secretary is to prioritise the protection and improvement of our members jobs, conditions, pensions and safety as we move towards GBR and lobby the government accordingly.”

 

I trust this keeps you fully advised.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Michael Lynch

General Secretary