Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned

state-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public owne ...

public body A statutory corporation is a government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, thus, they are statutes owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government to the (in so ...

that will oversee

rail transport in Great Britain The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest railway system in the world. The first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825, which was followed by an era of rapid expansion. Most of the track is managed by Network Rail, which in ...

from 2024, with the exception of Transport for London,

Merseytravel Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transpor ...

services, and light rail and trams elsewhere in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It will replace

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...

as the operator of rail infrastructure across all of Great Britain (excluding some

Valley Lines Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes ( cy, Llwybrau Lleol y Cymoedd a Chaerdydd) (formerly Valley Lines) is the network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glam ...

in Wales and some

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated el ...

lines). It will also control the contracting of passenger train services, the setting of fares and timetables, and the collection of fare revenue, with the exception of services wholly within Scotland and Wales. The

concession contract A concession or concession agreement is a grant of rights, land or property by a government, local authority, corporation, individual or other legal entity. Public services such as water supply may be operated as a concession. In the case of a p ...

system will replace the previous system of passenger rail franchising run by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

, which collapsed in 2020 during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. GBR will be modelled on the operations of Transport for London, which contracts services on systems such as

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

. GBR is currently running a competition to find a town or city outside London to host its headquarters, the results of which will be announced in 2022. The Transport Secretary announced on 19 October 2022 that the Transport Bill which would have set up GBR would not go ahead in the current parliamentary session.

History

Britain's railway system was built by private companies, but it was nationalised by the

Transport Act 1947 The Transport Act 1947 (10 & 11 Geo. 6 c. 49) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under the terms of the Act, the railway network, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were nationalised and came under ...

and was run from then onwards by

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British ...

(which traded as British Rail from 1965) until re-privatisation, which was begun in 1994 and completed in 1997. Infrastructure, passenger, and freight services were separated at that time. The infrastructure was privately owned and operated by

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

from 1994 to 2002, when it was renationalised and transferred to

. Goods (freight) services are operated by a number of companies, the descendants of those created during the 1990s privatisation. During 2020, in the midst of the

, all passenger

train operating companies A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993. T ...

(TOCs) entered into Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements with the UK and Scottish Governments. Normal passenger service franchise mechanisms were amended, transferring almost all revenue and cost risk to the government, effectively 'renationalising' those services temporarily. The new GBR organisation was proposed under the Williams–Shapps Rail Review, which was carried out by Keith Williams and published as a

white paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...

on 20 May 2021. A

fortnight A fortnight is a unit of time equal to 14 days (two weeks). The word derives from the Old English term , meaning "" (or "fourteen days," since the Anglo-Saxons counted by nights). Astronomy and tides In astronomy, a ''lunar fortnight'' is ha ...

before the Williams–Shapps Plan for Rail was unveiled, the Department for Transport gave notice of a £6.5million contract for

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

up to February 2023 as its "strategic change delivery partner: rail reform programme". Andrew Haines and

Peter Hendy Peter Gerard Hendy, Baron Hendy of Richmond Hill (born 19 March 1953) is a British transport executive and politician. He is the current chairman of Network Rail and was formerly the Commissioner of Transport for London. Education Hendy was ...

, the current

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of Network Rail respectively, are overseeing the establishment of GBR.

Regions

GBR will be made up of five regional divisions, organised in line with Network Rail's Putting Passengers First programme. Budgets and delivery will be held at the local level as well as at the national level. Regional divisions will manage concession contracts, stations, infrastructure, manage local and regional budgets, integrate track and train, and integrate rail with local transport services. The five regions are: * Scotland * North West & Central * Eastern (including the East Coast Main Line) * Wales & Western * Southern (including

HS1 High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...

) The reorganisation does not affect

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

, where the railway is already operated by the vertically integrated and already wholly state-owned

Northern Ireland Railways NI Railways, also known as Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) ( ga, Iarnród Thuaisceart Éireann); and for a brief period Ulster Transport Railways (UTR), is the railway operator in Northern Ireland. NIR is a subsidiary of Translink, whose paren ...

. It does affect other devolved rail operators, including

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise ...

Transport for Wales Transport for Wales (TfW; cy, Trafnidiaeth Cymru; cy, TrC, label=none) is a not-for-profit company owned by the Welsh Government and managed at arms length by its appointed board. TfW oversees the Transport for Wales Group (TfW Group) cons ...

, Elizabeth line (Crossrail) and

, as well as the

combined authorities A combined authority is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Combined authorities are created voluntarily and allow a grou ...

that oversee other local railway networks in England. The devolved administrations, combined authorities, and the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and t ...

will continue to exercise their current powers, such as setting fares and awarding contracts, and will remain democratically accountable for this. However, these bodies will be required to coordinate with GBR to deliver a single national rail network, including one website and app, as well as following national branding and passenger standards. GBR will own all infrastructure in Scotland and Wales that Network Rail owns now.

Stations

Under Network Rail, all stations are formally in public hands since 2014, but only 20 (mainly large termini and central stations) are managed directly by it. GBR will own all stations and most infrastructure in Great Britain. Existing leases of stations to devolved transport authorities will continue. Dedicated station management teams will be created within regional divisions of GBR to manage stations and land. GBR will develop masterplans for station renewal.

Branding

GBR will use a slightly modified

British Rail Double Arrow The British Rail Double Arrow is a logo that was created for British Rail (BR), the then state-owned operator of Britain's railway network, in 1965. It has remained in use as part of the National Rail brand used for Britain's passenger rail serv ...

and the Rail Alphabet 2 typeface for branding. The Williams–Shapps plan recommended that there will be a single, unifying brand for railways, and it is expected that this will be a gradual rebranding over time. English regions, Scotland, and Wales will have their own variants, but these will still emphasise the national nature of GBR. The white paper does not specify whether the branding of devolved railways such as London Overground and Merseyrail will be affected.

Headquarters

Public competition launched to find new home for Britain’s railways

The location for GBR's headquarters is currently being determined. The government has promised to base the organisation outside London to promote economic growth and skills in a region beyond the capital. On 5 February 2022, the Department for Transport launched a public consultation for the location of GBR’s headquarters. By 16 March (the deadline for submitting expressions of interest), 42 towns and cities had expressed an interest in hosting GBR's headquarters. A shortlist will be drawn up using the following criteria: *alignment with " levelling up" objectives *connected and easy to get to *opportunities for GBR *railway heritage and links to the network *value for money *public support The shortlist was due to be announced in May 2022 and a public vote was to follow. The winner is expected to be announced later in 2022.

References

External links

* for the Great British Railways Transition Team {{Rail network infrastructure companies Department for Transport Government-owned companies of the United Kingdom Non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Railway infrastructure companies