Transport Secretary Louise Haigh fired the starting gun on rail reform \u2013 ushering in a new era for our railways which puts passengers first.<\/p>\n
Yesterday\u2019s launch of Shadow Great British Railways (Shadow GBR) will set in motion a huge overhaul of the running of the rail network, bringing together leaders from the Department for Transport, Network Rail and publicly-owned operators.<\/p>\n
Shadow GBR will pave the way for Great British Railways \u2013 a new unified arm\u2019s length body responsible for finally bringing track and train back together and overseeing both services and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The announcement comes as the government\u2019s Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill continues its passage through the Commons, marking further progress in the Transport Secretary\u2019s mission to put rail services back into the hands of the public.<\/p>\n
The landmark legislation reinforces the government\u2019s relentless focus on reversing decades of delays, cancellations and unreliable services on Britain\u2019s railways.<\/p>\n
It will prioritise passengers over private companies, putting the railways back on track, while saving taxpayers up to an estimated \u00a3150 million every year in fees alone in the process.<\/p>\n
The Transport Secretary has already started the work to modernise the railways \u2013 root and branch \u2013 so passengers are put first. She says this programme will save money for taxpayers and passengers and deliver a more reliable railway.<\/p>\n
As part of the plans for reform, the government has recognised the need to speed up training for drivers and is collaborating with the sector to build resilience and improve productivity. Following a consultation this summer on lowering the minimum age for drivers from 20 to 18, the government is reviewing the feedback and will lay out next steps in due course.<\/p>\n
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said:<\/p>\n
I am firing the starting gun on the biggest reforms to our railways in a generation.\u00a0I am determined to end the chaos, delay and disruption faced by people on train journeys every day.<\/p>\n
Establishing Shadow Great British Railways marks a significant step towards delivering a unified railway with passengers at its heart by bringing together track and train, and by progressing the Passenger Railways Services Bill we\u2019re one step closer to public ownership which will help put our railways back on track.<\/p>\n
This government will direct every penny into creating a stronger, more reliable rail network that works for everyone.<\/p>\n
This is about making the railways work for the people that use them \u2013 putting passengers first and driving up performance.<\/p>\n
Further measures set out by the Secretary of State today include the announcement of a new Rail Sale early next year, to tie in with celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of Britain\u2019s passenger railways. Returning by popular demand, the sale will aim to encourage more people on to the railways by offering up to 50% off train tickets for a specific time period.<\/p>\n
On top of this, tap-in tap-out technology will be rolled out at a further 45 stations next year thanks to nearly \u00a327 million of government funding, meaning simpler and more flexible train travel.<\/p>\n
Among these stations will be London Stansted, allowing smoother journeys for international passengers from train to plane. This follows 47 stations previously announced across the Southeast that are set to benefit from the technology in September.<\/p>\n
The reforms announced today would not be possible to deliver while industrial disputes are ongoing. That\u2019s why the Transport Secretary is prioritising ending the longest national strike in the history of the railways, clearing the way for vital progress on the network.<\/p>\n
Just recently, following a series of positive talks led by government, ASLEF agreed to recommend a new pay proposal to its members which will now be put to members in a referendum.<\/p>\n\n
Image \u00a9 UK Parliament 2024 Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)<\/a> licence<\/p>\n The post Public Ownership Rail Reform on Track<\/a> appeared first on Transport & Logistics Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Transport Secretary Louise Haigh fired the starting gun on rail reform \u2013 ushering in a new era for our railways which puts passengers first. Yesterday\u2019s launch of Shadow Great British Railways (Shadow GBR) will set in motion a huge overhaul of the running of the rail network, bringing together leaders from the Department for Transport, Network Rail and publicly-owned operators.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camcab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camcab.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}