The Railway Bill, presented to the UK Parliament in November 2025, was one of the important legislative steps towards the creation of Great British Railways (GBR), a new publicly owned company that will bring together the management of passenger services and rail infrastructure.
This bill represents a profound reform of the British railway system, with the government’s proposals prioritizing the needs of passengers, freight customers, and taxpayers. Great British Railways will be responsible for operating passenger services—through the acquisition of private operators—managing infrastructure, including stations and depots, and deciding which other operators can run on its infrastructure. It will also be responsible for selling tickets for the services it offers.
Parliament report: “no political interference”
The committee published two reports today, concluding both its inquiry into the Railways Bill and its parallel investigation into the rail investment portfolio.
As a result of its analysis of the legislation, the Transport Committee published two reports in February 2026 concluding its inquiry into the Railways Bill and its parallel investigation examining investment in the rail sector.
The Transport Committee points out that the UK’s rail reform bill only gives an incomplete picture of the future operating framework for Great British Railways (GBR) and is asking the government for more clarity before the final adoption.
It also calls for the publication of a clear timetable of key decisions and documents, the presentation of GBR’s draft license, and the introduction of explicit targets, such as increasing passenger numbers. At the same time, the Committee emphasizes that GBR must be protected from political interference in its work, given that a clause would allow a future Secretary of State, if they so wished, to exercise excessive control over GBR through directives. In this context, the Committee suggests revising the clause so that directives can only be issued when strictly necessary and appropriate to the situation. This measure would maintain the Secretary of State’s authority to monitor GBR’s compliance with the rules and correct strategic issues, while preventing excessive interference in the day-to-day operational management of the organization.
Investments must be clear
Alongside the report on the Railways Bill, the Committee also emphasizes the need for a predictable investment framework, not a “boom and bust” type that generates uncertainty and affects the rail industry.
Thus, it is shown that the creation of GBR is an opportunity for a new approach to investment in the railway sector, but this will require restraint on the part of the politicians who oversee GBR, and the Government should clarify how much autonomy the new company will be able to exercise.
In developing the investment plan, the future Long-Term Railway Strategy (LTRS), with a 30-year horizon, which must be developed on the basis of the Railway Bill, and the rolling stock strategy are two components that can provide the railway industry with predictability on investments. Of course, investments of billions of euros have been announced, which is an important step in launching projects. It should be noted here that in the current budgetary period (Control Period – CP7 for the period 2024-2029) Network Rail estimates total revenues of GBP 45.1 billion (EUR 52.8 billion), of which EUR 5.4 billion will be spent on operations, EUR 15.7 billion on maintenance, and EUR 22.2 billion on infrastructure renewal.
It is also worth noting the announcement of the new Northern Powerhouse Rail plan with EUR 52 billion in funding.
For the rail industry, these investments mean projects that translate into contracts, but the industry needs investments to be consistent, phased, and clearly announced in order to generate commensurate results.
The Transport Committee considers that five-year funding provides a degree of stability, but warns that delays in contracting and the uneven distribution of funds have caused difficulties for the industry, particularly at the start of CP7. The Committee recommends an independent assessment of the start of CP7 to identify issues of expenditure volatility and lessons from the new partnerships, thereby providing clear guidance ahead of the establishment of Great British Railways.
A November 2025 survey of 125 executives in the rail business sector indicates a cautious outlook for the coming period. Sixty-four percent said they expected the rail supply industry to contract in the coming year, and 85% anticipated a period of stagnant activity, caused, for example, by uncertainty over budgets for upgrades or major projects. Many reported that they would prioritize projects outside the UK as a result of this situation. In addition, 62% said they expect to freeze or slow down recruitment, and 34% expect to make redundancies, according to the Railway Industry Association (RIA).
More than half of operators transferred to public ownership
The presentation of the Railways Bill in Parliament (November 2025) will allow Great British Railways to become operational approximately one year after receiving Royal Assent. The implementation of the law will mean that Network Rail (the current rail infrastructure manager) and passenger transport operators will be integrated into Great British Railways, which will be established by the end of 2027.
However, during this transition period, the government’s program (launched in December 2024) will be implemented, whereby passenger service operators will become publicly owned.
The legislation came into force in 2025, when a number of operators became publicly owned, the first being South Western Railway (in May). With the transfer of West Midlands Trains (February 2026), the operators that have become publicly owned are: Greater Anglia, c2c, Northern, TransPennine Express, Southeastern, LNER, and South Western Railway.
Next in line are Govia Thameslink Railway (in May 2026), Chiltern Railways, and Great Western Railways. To date, 8 of 14 operators have been transferred to public ownership and are managed by the government group DfT Operator Limited (DFTO), whose purpose is to take over all currently privately owned train operators to ensure the creation of Great British Railways in 2027.
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