Great British Railways’ creation to take place before next election
The creation of new rail body Great British Railways continues to drag on, as the legislation will now be tabled before the next general election.
Just last month then-transport secretary Anne Marie Trevelyan said GBR would be postponed to the next parliamentary session as the current energy and financial crisis took over the government’s agenda.
“What we are targeting is trying to get into legislation before the next election,” Anit Chandarana, lead director of the GBR transition team, told the London Assembly’s transport committee today.
“What we have agreed within the transition team and DfT is that whatever happens to the legislative timetable, it shouldn’t mean that we pause our work.
“We need to be as ready as we can be so that when the legislation comes around, we can push on that.”
When in operation, Great British Railways will take over Network Rail’s role and issue contracts to run trains.
According to the GBR transition team’s director, the pause will result in a six to nine month delay on the original early 2024 deadline.
“It’s not a multi-year [delay],” he added.
CityAM has approached the DfT for comment.