UK: The cross-party House of Commons Transport Committee has called for the government to provide more detail about how the rail industry will work in the future, and for changes to the Railways Bill which it says are needed to protect Great British Railways from political interference.
The Committee’s report into the Railways Bill, which was published on February 10, says the legislation gives only a partial picture of the framework for a new regime, saying ‘key policies, processes and decisions are awaited, and the timetable on which they will emerge is unknown or imprecise’.
The Committee says that this is in keeping with previous railways legislation, but ‘much more detail’ is needed before the bill reaches Report Stage in the House of Commons. ‘Most notably’ a draft of the new licence setting out GBR’s parameters is yet to materialise, it added.
The Committee says the Department for Transport should publish a comprehensive list, with target dates, of decisions, key documents and planned consultations leading up to the establishment of Great British Railways and in its first year of operation.
It also suggests the legislation should be amended to address potential tension between the Secretary of State’s central role in the new system and the government’s expectation that GBR will be a responsible arm’s-length body. It says the legislation as currently drafted would permit a future Secretary of State, if so minded, to micromanage GBR through directions. The Commitee believes the intention of the current government that the power only be used sparingly could be better reflected in the legislation. This concern has also been raised by industry insiders, with one source telling Rail Business UK in early February that they believe there is scope within the Bill as currently drafted for the Transport Secretary to unilaterally cancel agreed track access rights for non-GBR operators. ’As things stand today, we won’t see another open access bid’, they predicted.
Committee Chair Ruth Cadbury said ’in our scrutiny of the Railways Bill, the Transport Committee has identified a host of key documents that are yet to be published, and we don’t yet know when they will emerge. On top of this, we found a lack of clarity over how Great British Railways will operate as an arm’s-length body that is free from political interference and micromanagement by future secretaries of state.’ The Committee was also surprised to see that the Bill does not have a target for increasing passenger journeys, ’which is surely fundamental to the purpose of Great British Railways’, she added.
‘The government should take steps to reassure both parliament and the industry of movement on all these fronts.’
