Transport Secretary confirms commitment to fundamental rail reform

Transport Secretary Mark Harper used the 2023 George Bradshaw address to update the industry on Government’s plans to modernise the rail industry. Harper confirmed his priority to be delivering the Williams-Shapps plan for rail as set out in May 2021.

At the prestigious event hosted by the Institution of Civil Engineers, Harper acknowledged the rail industry’s frustration and the wide-spread desire to “end the sense of drift” and moving away from diagnosing and re-diagnosing the industry’s problems towards fixing them.

He said the railways weren’t fit for purpose, noting they were mired in industrial action and historically unable to deliver major improvements at good value for the taxpayer. Consequently, he said, the railways were in need of fundamental reform.

The Transport Secretary reiterated the industry’s underlying issues, first set out in the Williams Rail Review, highlighting “a fragmented structure that quickly forgets the customer. Decision making with too little accountability, but with too much centralisation. And a private sector rightly criticised for poor performance but with too few levers to change it,” he said.

According to Harper, the aim is a customer-first culture that includes reliable services, comfortable journeys and accessible stations, but importantly also fares and ticketing. He confirmed the extension of Pay-As-You-Go ticketing with 52 stations across the south-east likely to be completed this year. The aim is to offer single fares rather than return fares so that a single leg would always be half the price of the equivalent return. Additionally, demand-based pricing would be implemented on some LNER services as a trial, by way of learning from the aviation sector.

On the transition to GBR, Harper said GBR will be responsible for track and train as well as revenue and cost, “treating the industry as one system, rather than a fragmented one”. GBR is to act as a single point of accountability for performance. Importantly, the GBR Transition Team would develop the “guiding long-term strategy for rail”. This is to be published later in 2023 to provide strategic direction for the industry.

The Transport Secretary went on to say he wanted to enhance the role of the private sector, which he saw as central to the future of the railways. He called the current National Rail Contracts “overcentralised”, saying they were “a short-term fix that has helped steer the industry through the pandemic”. Instead, there are to be Passenger Service Contracts, which will “balance the right performance incentives with simple, commercially driven targets”.

Responding to the speech, Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Industry Association (RIA), which represents the rail supply industry in the UK, said, “The Railway Industry Association and our members will welcome the clarity on rail reform provided by Transport Secretary Mark Harper. The clarity around GBR, which the Secretary of State was clear will be a strategic guiding mind rather than a controlling mind, is essential to ensuring that rail projects are delivered cost-effectively and efficiently by the rail supply chain, providing value for money to both the fare payer and the tax payer.

“Last year RIA published ‘Five Tests for Great British Railways’, highlighting the key areas the railway supply sector wants the new organisation to focus on, to ensure rail reform is a success: preventing a hiatus in rail work, transparency, partnership with rail businesses, productivity, and ambition for a restructure which leaves a positive legacy in terms of safety, decarbonisation, exports and the economy.

“The clarity provided in the Transport Secretary’s speech today goes some way to providing reassurance on the issues of preventing a hiatus in work, more transparency and partnership with the private sector. The commitment to publish a long-term strategy for rail later this year is also very welcome. However, more still needs to be done to ensure there is a smooth and visible pipeline of work, and that rail suppliers are represented in plans to develop the pipeline, during what will be a period of significant change for the industry going forward. It is also important for industry to hear more about the positive legacy of GBR, in addition to the Transport Secretary’s welcome comments about better connecting people and resources.

“It is now essential the Government sticks to its plans and prioritises swift delivery, as certainty not just helps the supply chain deliver transformational rail projects in an effective and efficient way, but also enables the sector to make an even greater contribution when it comes to the UK’s economic growth, job creation, decarbonisation and the levelling-up agenda”.

Elaine Clark, CEO Rail Forum said, “We welcome today’s speech and the clear message it provides for the next phase of the rail reform agenda. Whilst there were few details, what the Secretary of State has done is set a clear direction of travel.

“The supply chain and private sector have a vital role to play in driving and delivering the changes required and we look forward to supporting our members as they get to grips with these opportunities. I think we would all agree we have been treading water for far too long. We now need government to deliver on the promise of action to break the current cycle and facilitate the actions that will enable us to deliver a railway fit for future generations.”

Access the full speech here