I am confident that the review into the future of rail services, following the delays and cancellations on the East Coast and across the North after the introduction of the May timetable will lead to much needed improvements. The review, which was announced by Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, will be led by an independent chairman, Keith Williams, the former British Airways Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of John Lewis. The Government has promised to publish a White Paper on the review's recommendations, with implementation of reforms planned to start from 2020.
Announcing the review Mr Grayling said “The rail industry today is too divided. There are too many different companies and organisations, and too little accountability. The result is that we are in danger of seeing big new investments fail to deliver what they should for passengers. We have to accept that the timetabling chaos has severely damaged public confidence in the railways and that too many regular rail users feel that the service is not being delivered in their interests. So it is important that this review is public facing and transparent, and when we establish what we think is the right approach to mend our railways, it must be properly tested and scrutinised independently. The review will look forensically at the different options, and then make recommendations on what will best deliver results in different areas of the country. These will be included in a White Paper in 2019, and we will start to implement them the following year”.
I think this is very positive and I know passengers will too. It’s time we took a fresh look at how we run our railways to make sure that they run efficiently and provide the service that passengers expect. It’s been a frustrating summer on the railways but I am pleased that the Secretary of State recognises that something needs to be done and has taken such swift action. The review will look at whether there needs to be more flexibility between government contracts and the companies that run the services; how to integrate the public track and private trains; and whether the railways should be managed more at a regional level, which is something I certainly favour.