TRANSPORT secretary Chris Grayling is set to reveal the scope of his railway industry review today, which was announced in the wake of a highly critical report from the Office of Rail and Road on 20 September.
The ORR has been investigating the reasons behind the problems with new timetables on May, which particularly affected passengers on Govia Thameslink Railway and Northern. It found that Network Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway, Northern, the Department for Transport and the ORR itself all made mistakes which contributed to the collapse of services.
The Department for Transport was so concerned about the disruption which occurred in the spring and summer that most of December’s planned changes have been put on hold until next year, while Mr Grayling also said that there would be a ‘root and branch’ review of the railway industry.
Opposition politicians have been been calling for wide renationalisation, which could include the public takeover of rolling stock leasing companies as well as the end of passenger rail franchising.
Mr Grayling’s review is to be led by Keith Williams, who is deputy chairman of the John Lewis Partnership and previously served as chief executive of British Airways.
However, the DfT appeared to be ruling out any nationalisation measures when it said Mr Williams and his team will ‘build on the government’s franchising strategy’, increasing vertical integration between track and train and also considering regional partnerships as well as the role of innovation.