Boris Johnson has announced that Britain is to have a new public rail operator, Great British Railways (GBR), in the biggest shakeup of the country’s trains since privatisation a quarter of a century ago.
“I am a great believer in rail, but for too long passengers have not had the level of service they deserve,” the prime minister said in a statement on Wednesday, alluding to the bewildering array of different companies, fares and bosses that have constituted the UK’s fragmented network since the demise of British Rail between 1994 and 1997.
The present system is “just too complicated”, transport secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News, adding that the reforms represent “a simplification which I think people will broadly welcome.”
“This will be still with the involvement of the private sector, running the concessions, running the actual trains, but they get paid for running those trains on time, keeping them tidy and clean, and it will be a single organisation selling you the tickets and running the timetable,” he said.
The government has been considering the future of the UK’s railways since May 2018 when the introduction of new timetables caused chaos, prompting it to commission a review of the industry from Keith Williams, the former chief executive of British Airways.
But the need for a rethink became even clearer during the coronavirus pandemic, which effectively collapsed the franchising system as the government found itself forced to assume the financial liabilities of operators when demand evaporated with the introduction of the first national lockdown in March 2020, ultimately costing it £12bn.
According to its new white paper, the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, GBR will now own and maintain Britain’s rail infrastructure, as well as collecting and setting all fares and contracting private companies to run the trains.
Those firms will be paid a flat management fee in a model similar to the “concession” system used on the London Overground and Docklands Light Railway services by Transport for London while GBR keeps the fare revenue and bears any risk.
The UK’s first publicly accountable body for the industry since Labour transport secretary Alastair Darling abolished the Strategic Rail Authority in 2006, GBR will also have control over the future direction and development of the national network, a move signalling a post-Brexit break with EU rules mandating the separation of train and track management to encourage competition.
The changes will ultimately see vast swathes of powers shifted from the Department for Transport (DfT) and from private operators towards GBR, which will resurrect the classic British Rail “double arrow” logo when it officially launches in 2023.
Many of its reforms will be brought in before that time, including the introduction of flexible season tickets offering savings on certain routes for people who travel to work two or three times a week, which will go on sale on 21 June for use seven days later.
There will also be a “significant rollout” of more pay-as-you-go, contactless and digital ticketing on smartphones, according to the DfT.
Some questions remain open, such as whether trains will be painted with a unified national GBR brand or whether the individual identities of different operators like Avanti, South Western Railway and GWR will be retained.
While the plan has been cautiously welcomed by rail and passenger groups, Labour’s shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said it “raises more questions than it answers”.
“A lack of proper detail on flexible tickets and whether it will make travel cheaper for the average commuter renders it meaningless for millions and completely fails to meet the scale of challenge required to encourage people back onto the rail network post-pandemic,” he said.
Britain’s love-hate relationship with its railways is certainly in need of addressing.
Speaking about the pandemic in Westminster earlier this spring, Mr Johnson preached caution to the public by warning that the infection graphs would otherwise begin “curling up like old British Rail sandwiches”, the simile a perfect encapsulation of the attitude most of us hold towards taking the train: a conflicted blend of loathing and nostalgia.
Mr Shapps made the same joke on Wednesday: “I want the ticketing to be straightforward and simple and we won’t be going back to the days of British Rail with terrible sandwiches and all the rest of it.”
For most of us, the pre-pandemic reality of modern intercity train travel was a profoundly miserable experience and the state of its lunch options only a fraction of the problem.
The aisles of carriages were typically packed to bursting with depressed commuters clutching overpriced coffees and phones, blocking the exits with wheeled suitcases, as coughing season ticket holders camped out in the toilet because there was nowhere else to sit, having shelled out an extortionate repeat-fee for the privilege.
Those lucky enough to secure a seat meanwhile slobbed out like kings, devouring packets of M&S crisps, spewing crumbs and quaffing cans, often playing music loud to the aggravation of readers desperate for civility and quiet in the Quiet Zone.
But the dreamers amongst us still pine for a revival of the golden age of British railway with its dappled pre-Beeching branch lines stopping at remote country stations like Dilton Marsh Hall and tea served in china cups, its passing moments of tranquility like that described in “Adlestrop” by Edward Thomas.
If the GBR could restore even a fraction of the order of that lost world a century later, its reforms would be very welcome indeed.
