- The Government is introducing the biggest shift in how the railways are run since privatisation – a new CPS report from rail expert Tony Lodge warns that the plans risk repeating the mistakes of the past
- The introduction of Great British Railways (GBR) in its planned form will slash accountability, with most of the independent regulator’s duties stripped and transferred to GBR
- Ministers also seem to be demonstrating profound and misguided hostility to open access rail competition, which has been the biggest railway success story in recent decades
- Unless GBR adopts a customer-first focus and does more to capitalise on the wider rail estate, the network will remain heavily dependent on public subsidy
- Lodge sets out a four-point plan to ensure that GBR does not repeat the mistakes of the past, including quotas for open access on all main intercity lines
Great British Railways (GBR) is a solution in search of a problem and risks ‘morphing into the ghost of British Rail’ unless ministers develop a long-term vision for the railways, warns a new report.
‘Rail’s Last Chance: A four-point plan to save the railways’ by rail expert and CPS fellow Tony Lodge outlines a range of critical measures that would deliver for customers and boost revenue when Labour pushes ahead with their new state-owned railway company. Currently, rail receives a £12.5bn annual subsidy from the taxpayer, despite accounting for just 2% of all journeys taken by the public.
First, the report urges the government and GBR to protect and promote open access passenger services, which have delivered better services, more routes, faster trains, and cheaper tickets. It highlights the fact that open access competition on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) has not just seen new, popular rail operators enter the market, but pushed the dominant franchise operator, LNER, to deliver better for its customers. Lodge notes that European railways that are copying Britain’s existing open access model on the ECML have seen a 40% increase in passengers and fare reductions of 20-60%.
Lodge argues that while open access trains already represent 20% of services on the ECML, other long-distance intercity routes should aim for a minimum of 10% open access by 2030, to replicate this success across the network.
Second, Great British Railways should not be able to mark its own homework – for example, by deciding which operators get access to its tracks.. Instead, the Office for Road and Rail should retain its independent regulatory powers both to scrutinise GBR and its operations, alongside ensuring standards are upheld and costs are controlled.
Third, the report calls for GBR to adopt a ruthless focus on making train travel as easy, cheap and user-friendly as possible, not least when designing a new GBR ticketing app to replace those of the existing train operating companies. This would include not just addressing the complexity and cost of fares, but more imaginative ideas such as a ‘Rail Miles’ loyalty scheme, or combining rail tickets with other bookings such as hospitality and retail.
Finally, the report highlights the enormous missed opportunities for the rail estate to generate wider ancillary income. Commercial and residential development, renewable energy generation, light parcel freight, health hubs at stations, alongside a higher quality retail offering are all underutilised sources of income for the railways.
The report argues that the rail sector’s 52,000 hectares could generate massive renewable energy and development income, learning from countries like Japan, where railways earn one-third of their revenue from non-ticket sources such as retail.
Ministers estimate that the Network Rail estate has the potential capacity to generate 188 MWp (Megawatts peak) of solar power across 34 sites. This could power the equivalent of between 140,000 to 180,000 homes and earn the railway tens of millions of pounds in new revenue. The report urges ministers to explore this, and to go further, considering lineside solar generation along suitable parts of Britain’s 9,848 miles of rail network.
Tony Lodge, rail expert and author of ‘Rail’s Last Chance’, said:
‘It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Great British Railways is a solution looking for a problem – prioritising the nationalisation of the railways over their effective and efficient operation.
‘That said, Labour is committed to bringing it forward and has the parliamentary mandate to do so. It is critical then that GBR is designed and run with customer focus at its heart; encouraging innovation and competition, promoting open access, supporting rail freight, and maximising income from the wider railway estate.
‘Without this, Great British Railways will merely resurrect the ghost of British Rail, with all the poor performance, taxpayer subsidy, and passenger dissatisfaction that came with it.’
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Tony Lodge is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Policy Studies
- ‘Rail’s Last Chance: A four-point plan to save the railways’ is available under embargo here.
- For further information and media requests, please contact Emma Revell on 07931 698246 and [email protected] or Melisa Tourt on 07399 251110 and [email protected]
- The Centre for Policy Studies is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in Westminster. With a focus on taxation, economic growth, housing, immigration, and energy abundance, its goal is to develop policies that widen enterprise, ownership and opportunity.
Date Added: Sunday 27th July 2025
