Railway plan could spell end of line for franchise
THE government has signalled a radical overhaul of how the railway industry is organised – which could mean the end of the current franchise system.
But the Tories won’t be re-nationalising the railways any time soon.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling announced details of a major review of the industry yesterday following a summer of delays and cancellations across the north and other areas in the wake of the disastrous introduction of a new timetable in May.
It included the appointment of a former boss of British Airways to lead the review and also the recruitment of a railway industry expert to look at why the north particularly suffered so badly. Speaking in Parliament, Mr Grayling poured scorn on calls for the return of the old British Rail, which was replaced more than 20 years ago by a system of rail franchises.
Although the franchise system itself would fall under the scope of the review, it was made clear whatever might replace it would include a major role for the private sector.
Privatisation had revitalised British Rail ‘but a quarter of century later the situation is very different’ with current railway system struggling to cope despite a £48bn five-year investment, the minister told MPs.
The new model of the running the railways, however, would be ‘the right balance between the public and private sector.’
Addressing calls by Labour to renationalise the railways, Mr Grayling said: “Some have called for the return to a national state-run monopoly and for us to go back to the days of British Rail. There is an expectation that taking on hundreds of millions of pounds of debt on to the government books will magically resolve every problem.
“This fails to recognise that many of the problems that customers faced were down to the nationalised part of the railway. It also creates the false sense that a government controlled re-brand would somehow make every train work on time.”
In the north delays to infrastructure upgrades beyond the control of Network Rail were a ‘major factor in the resulting disruption,’ he said.
The review will consider ‘further devolution’ as well as the franchising system itself and whether regions should have their own bespoke arrangements rather than one national model.
Two key appointments were also announced.
Deputy chairman of John Lewis Partnership, Keith Lewis, the former boss of British Airways, will lead the review and his findings will be presented in a white paper published in the autumn of 2019.
Railway industry expert, Richard George, who was director of transport for the 2012 London Olympics, has been recruited to ‘look at underlying performance issues’ in the north.
The Government launched its review of Britain’s railways last month after a damning official report into the summer of misery suffered by passengers.
The report by regulators at the Office of Rail and Road revealed ‘systemic weaknesses in the planning and delivery of major network changes’ while ‘the scale of the disruption to passengers was not foreseen by any party until after it had begun.’