Williams Review
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Rail Business UKRail leaders frustrated as DfT tightens grip and cuts loom
UK: Rail Business UK has taken soundings from across the train operating companies, Network Rail and from sources close to the Department for Transport, finding a bleak outlook. Industry leaders fear having to implement stark cuts to rail provision, even if the industrial relations issues plaguing the sector can be resolved.
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Rail Business UKRail Partners calls for changes to prevent cuts leading to a ‘spiral of decline’
UK: The Rail Partners association of train operator owning groups has called for changes which it says are needed to prevent lower post-pandemic revenues, rising industry costs and delays to reform triggering a ‘spiral of decline’ with a ‘protracted hiatus, stunted recovery from the pandemic and ...
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Rail Business UKCity regions want formal role in rail reform
UK: City regions have been sidelined in the government’s plans for rail reform, according to the Urban Transport Group of transport authorities, which has called for them to be given a statutory role in managing and developing the rail network. UTG said it welcomed many of the ...
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Rail Business UKRail Partners wants a ‘reinvigorated public-private partnership for the railway’
UK: Rail Partners has been officially launched, after being spun out of the Rail Delivery Group to act as a trade body to provide advocacy and policy development services for passenger train operator owning groups and freight operators. It will also provide operations and engineering technical ...
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Rail Business UKGovernment consults on rail reform legislative changes
UK: The government has begun consultation on the legislative changes required to implement the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail. This includes the creation of Great British Railways, a new governance framework, and reform of wider industry structures and processes. The consultation opened on June 9 and closes ...
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Rail Business UKWilliams sees ‘vast opportunities’ for the private sector under Great British Railways
UK: There will be ‘vast opportunities’ for the private sector to shape the rail sector as the development of Great British Railways gathers pace, Keith Williams, author of the Williams-Shapps Review into rail reform, told the Railway Industry Association’s Innovation Conference. GBR is being established ‘as ...
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Rail Business UKSustainable Rail Strategy Prototype consultation opens
UK: RSSB has opened a consultation on the Sustainable Rail Strategy Prototype, an initial version of the ‘comprehensive environment plan that will establish rail as the backbone of a cleaner future transport system’, which the government announced in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail. SRS aims to ...
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Rail Business UKRail’s growth agenda evaporates as Treasury takes control
UK: Having spoken to a range of senior figures across the industry in recent weeks, almost all on condition of anonymity, Rail Business UK can confirm widespread concern that significant investment spending is coming to an end after three decades of growth in rail use, with potentially significant implications for the future of the network.
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Rail Business UKTrain operators launch voluntary severance scheme
UK: Train operating companies opened the industry-wide voluntary severance scheme to staff at midday on October 13, as part of a Department for Transport-led cost reduction initiative launched in response to expected changes in passenger demand in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Mirroring a similar ...
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Rail Business UKDfT begins market engagement on future Passenger Service Contracts
UK: The Department for Transport has announced the first phase of engagement with industry stakeholders regarding plans for the Passenger Service Contracts which will replace the previous franchising system. A central part of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, PSCs are intended to encourage greater private sector ...
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Rail Business UKORR consults on reform of Schedule 4 disruption compensation regime
UK: The Office of Rail & Road has begun consultation on proposals to reform the Schedule 4 regime. This compensates passenger and freight train operators for loss of revenue and additional costs incurred as the result of disruption to services due to engineering possessions, and incentivises ...
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Rail Business UKRail industry voluntary severance scheme set for rapid roll-out
UK: The first details of the Special Voluntary Severance Scheme that will be offered to railway employees have been outlined as the Department for Transport pushes forward with a widespread reduction in staff numbers across all parts of the rail sector.
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Rail Business UKDfT needs to set out how it will implement rail reform, says Public Accounts Committee
UK: The Department for Transport faces ‘an extremely challenging and uncertain environment’ in which to implement the proposed Williams-Shapps rail reforms, but ‘has neither the necessary urgency nor appreciates the scale of the challenge ahead’ the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee warns in its Overview ...
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Rail Business UKRail Data Marketplace aims to open up industry information to tech companies
UK: The government has announced £5m of funding to start the development of a Rail Data Marketplace intended to provide tools and frameworks to open up rail data to developers and tech companies through a single-access platform. It is envisaged that having the data in one ...
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Rail Business UKWe need a simpler, sustainable and more user-centric railway, says Network Rail Chief Executive
UK: ‘This is a fantastic time to look at reshaping the industry, as we come out of Covid’, says Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines. ‘The government is committed to growing the railway’ and to decarbonisation, and ‘there is no appetite to use Covid as an excuse to shut the railway.’
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Rail Business UKConcession model could affect ROSCO business models
UK: Rolling stock leasing companies’ business models, risk profiles and financial positions could be affected by the move to concessions for operating passenger train services under the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, according to Fitch Ratings. ‘The proposals do not imply any direct change for the role ...
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Rail Business UKRail needs to be ‘relevant and wanted’ in an era of changed travel demand
UK: ‘How we go about our daily lives and conduct our businesses has changed for a lot of people’, said Steve Montgomery, Managing Director of FirstGroup’s First Rail business at the TransPennine Express RE-Connect 2021 conference. Before the coronavirus ‘we were seeing customer numbers at record ...
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Rail Business UKGreat British Railways to provide ‘united, accountable leadership’ for the rail sector
UK: Replacing ‘a quarter-century of fragmentation’ with ‘single, accountable national leadership’ is at the core of the government’s Williams-Shapps Plan for reform of the railways in Great Britain, with passenger services to be provided by private sector concessionaires under contract to a new public body Great British ...
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Rail Business UKFlexible season ticket details announced
UK: The Department for Transport has announced details of the new flexible season tickets aimed at commuters travelling two or three days a week. The smartcard or mobile phone based tickets will be offered by all DfT-franchised train operating companies across England, and are to go ...
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Rail Business UKLIVE: Rail sector responds to the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail
Live blog with the latest updates and reactions to the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail published on May 20 2021, the UK government’s white paper based on the Williams Review of the future structure of the rail industry.