GIVING the opening keynote address to the annual conference of the Railway Industry Association (RIA), which represents the British supply sector, in London on November 5, transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, described the Railways Bill that was introduced to Parliament on the same day, as “a first step towards a simpler, more joined-up railway,” telling the audience that it will be a railway “that you can more easily do business with.”
“This bill really opens the door to reform,” she said. “For the supply chain this should be nothing less than transformative,” Alexander said, as GBR would be the single “agile” company providing suppliers with a single point of contact.
With RIA chief executive, Darren Kaplan, asking Alexander to “please be the transport secretary that smooths out boom and bust in rail,” providing a stable long-term pipeline of infrastructure work and rolling stock orders, she confirmed that work was already underway at the Department for Transport (DfT) to produce a rolling stock and infrastructure strategy, expected to be published in summer 2026.
“Together we will create a simpler, high-performing railway that inspires supply chain confidence,” Alexander said. “We have a unique opportunity now to repair what’s broken.”
Conservative MP and shadow secretary of state for transport, Richard Holden, expressed his concern that many of the details of how GBR will function have yet to emerge, including the performance regime and the standards that will apply to passenger operators in the public sector.
He believed that KPIs for the new organisation “need to be written on the face of the bill,” as well as targets for growing passenger and freight traffic. “If we’re not driving growth in passenger numbers, it’s an acceptance of managed decline,” Holden said.
“I fear this bill does not deliver the innovation and flexibility needed,” he said. “We want to see growth, we want to see innovation, we want to see modernisation.”
