DfT 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.
Shapps sets out ‘core goals’ for Great British Railways
UK: The government has set out its ‘core goals’ for Great British Railways, set up a transition team led by Network Rail CEO Andrew Haines and announced a competition to select the future location of the national headquarters.
DfT 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 of the English Rail ...
We 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.’
Great 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 Railways.