Great British Railways news
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Rail Business UKRail reform makes limited progress with unclear plans
UK: The government’s rail reforms are facing delays and there are long-standing issues that need to be addressed including financial sustainability, according to a National Audit Office report published on March 8. After the white paper on rail reform was published in May 2021, the Department ...
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Rail Business UKTransport Committee invites feedback on draft rail reform bill
Source: Mary R Smith/Pixabay UK: The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has launched its pre-legislative scrutiny of the government’s draft Rail Reform Bill, inviting experts to share their views. The Committee will examine the draft bill’s proposals and make recommendations to the government on how ...
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Rail Business UKUK government publishes Draft Rail Reform Bill
UK: The government has published its Draft Rail Reform Bill, to give parliamentarians and the industry an opportunity to provide feedback. Legislation is needed to implement the government’s rail reform proposals, including the creation of Great British Railways. However, a bill is unlikely to pass before ...
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Rail Business UKWest Midlands and Greater Manchester smart fare capping planned for 2025
UK: Stations across the West Midlands and selected routes in Greater Manchester are to be equipped for tap-in and tap-out payment with ‘best fare’ capping from 2025, Rail Minister Huw Merriman confirmed on February 1. Meanwhile, the Great British Railways Transition Team is working on the ...
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Rail Business UKRail freight sector responds to government’s 75% target for growth
UK: The rail industry has welcomed the government’s announcement of ‘a top-level ambition’ to grow freight tonne-km by at least 75% by 2050, but says more work is needed to identify actions implement this. The target announced by Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper on ...
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Rail Business UKPlans for centralised Great British Railways ticket sales scrapped
UK: The government has dropped plans to create a centralised Great British Railways online rail ticket retailer, the Department for Transport has confirmed. The proposals were originally outlined by the in May 2021 as part of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail white paper. However, on December ...
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Rail Business UKLive broadcast: Britain’s railways in a state of flux
UK: Britain’s rail sector is in a state of flux. In Railway Gazette Group’s forthcoming interactive live broadcast on November 22, a panel of industry leaders will assess the outlook in the wake of the scrapping of the remaining legs of High Speed 2, ongoing pressure on day-to-day operating budgets, question marks over plans to establish Great British Railways as a ‘guiding mind’ for the industry and the uneven picture of devolution.
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Rail Business UKDisappointment as railway reform bill now unlikely before election
UK: The government’s decision to publish a draft rather than full railway reform bill is a missed opportunity, rail industry bodies said following the King’s Speech at the opening of Parliament on November 7. The government said that given the scale and complexity of the planned ...
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Rail Business UKRail bodies get busy on Bee plans
UK: Transport for Greater Manchester and the Great British Railways Transition Team have formally begun developing plans for a more locally accountable and integrated local rail network, supporting the Trailblazer Deeper Devolution Deal agreed between Greater Manchester and the government in March. The work which got ...
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Rail Business UKRail leaders court Labour as fears of ‘managed decline’ grow
UK: Amid mounting concern about potential cuts to rail provision, senior leaders in the passenger and freight markets have begun to engage more closely with the Labour Party ahead of a likely general election in 2024.
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Rail Business UKRailway 200 looks to the future as well as the past
UK: Inspiring the next generation will be a key focus for a year-long programme of events being planned to mark the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway on September 27 1825. That event is described as ‘the birth of passenger train ...
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Rail Business UKInterview: ‘You can’t innovate as a monopolist’
UK: Avanti West Coast and c2c parent Trenitalia is ready to make significant investment in Britain’s railways, mirroring its recent expansion in Spain. But this is contingent on the government relaxing its grip on the industry, the company’s UK Managing Director Ernesto Sicilia explains to Nick Kingsley and Sophie Burton.
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Rail Business UKIndustry leaders call for Great British Railways legislation
UK: More than 60 rail supply business leaders have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister urging him to bring forward the bill which would formally establish Great British Railways before the end of this parliament. The government published its rail reform proposals in 2021, ...
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In depthUK: Quality crumbles as rail reform programme inches forward
While preparations continue for the establishment of Great British Railways as a ‘guiding mind’ for the national rail network, cost cutting across both operations and infrastructure is starting to impact on the quality of service and rail’s ability to contribute to meeting ambitious decarbonisation targets.
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News‘Nothing Beats Being There’ campaign aims to get people back on trains
UK: A ‘Nothing Beats Being There’ advertising campaign which aims to attract commuters, business and leisure travellers back to rail has been launched by the Rail Delivery Group, train operators, Network Rail and the Great British Railways Transition Team. The advert was shot by photographer ...
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Rail Business UKDerby selected as Great British Railways headquarters
UK: Derby has been selected to host the national headquarters of Great British Railways, with the Department for Transport saying it had come top in both the assessment process and the public vote. There were 42 expressions of interest in being the home of GBR, and ...
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Rail Business UKIndependent train ticket retailers call for level playing field
UK: Attracting new customers to rail requires ‘simplifying ticketing, creating a level playing field that encourages competition, and embracing the private sector to drive down costs’, Chair of the Independent Rail Retailers association Alistair Lees has told the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group. On March 13, MPs ...
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Rail Business UKRail Partners sets out Freight Expectations for growth
UK: Rail Partners has called on the government to implement five policies that would enable rail to play a greater role in decarbonisation of the logistics sector and would give freight operators and customers the confidence to invest in assets. On March ...
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Rail Business UKRail needs to get out of a pickle, says Minister in Gherkin
UK: ‘The perception that passengers cannot rely on rail is too close to the truth’, Rail Minister Huw Merriman told representatives of the passenger industry.
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Rail Business UKTicket reform on the way
UK: The government is planning to announce details of plans for national rail ticket reform by May, Rail Business UK understands.