The Transport Committee has called for more detail about the Government’s landmark reforms to the rail sector and changes to the legislation to prevent undue political interference in Great British Railways.
The Committee has today published two reports (attached), wrapping up its inquiry into the Railways Bill and its parallel inquiry examining investment pipelines for the railways.
The Railways Bill report says the legislation gives only a partial picture of the framework for a new regime under GBR. “Key policies, processes and decisions are awaited, and the timetable on which they will emerge is unknown or imprecise,” it states.
The report adds that while this is in keeping with previous railways legislation, much more detail is needed before the Bill reaches Report Stage in the House of Commons. Most notably, the report says that a draft of the new licence setting out GBR’s parameters is yet to materialise.
“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,” the report states.
It also suggests the legislation should be amended to iron out “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.
Elsewhere, it says the Railways Bill should be bolstered to include a duty on the Secretary of State to set a “passenger journey growth target”.
The report states: “Increasing passenger journeys will help achieve the Government’s aims to support growth and decarbonisation through connectivity and modal shift. It is also fundamental to the purpose of GBR— so seems an odd omission from the legislation.”
Published alongside the Railways Bill report, a report about the pipeline of investment in the railway highlights that investment has frequently been characterised by ‘boom and bust’ cycles which create damaging uncertainty for the supply chain.
It says the advent of GBR is an opportunity for a new approach to investing in the railways – but that this will require self-restraint from the politicians who oversee GBR and the Government should make clear how much autonomy it will be able to exercise. The report identifies the promised Long Term Rail Strategy and rolling stock strategy as key to future certainty for the industry.
Transport Committee Chair Ruth Cadbury said:
“The Railways Bill should usher in much-needed structural change for our railways, but we still need to know more about the route it will take and when its component parts will be coming down the track.
“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.
“The Government should take steps to reassure both Parliament and the industry of movement on all these fronts.
“What is clear is that we must get past the damaging ‘boom and bust’ cycles outlined in our report about the pipeline of rail investment, with a radical new approach to certainty of spending on the railways. The advent of Great British Railways is a golden opportunity to get this moving, and the Committee looks forward to hearing more about the Government’s plans to reach its destination.”
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