Great British Railways: Costs

(asked on 22nd June 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the set-up costs of Great British Railways.


Answered by
Chris Heaton-Harris Portrait
Chris Heaton-Harris
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
This question was answered on 30th June 2021

Transformation on this scale cannot happen overnight. The government is setting up a Rail Transformation Programme within the department and the rail industry to establish a common understanding of the vision, set out the phases of delivery and work collectively with the sector to design and implement this major programme. As a respected leader in the sector, Andrew Haines has been asked to develop plans for establishing interim arrangement, drawing on expertise across industry and beyond.

Great British Railways will be able to make substantial net savings without detriment to service or fare levels by reducing duplication, interface costs and complexity. Savings from reform will take several years to realise, but industry experts suggest that after an initial five-year implementation period, substantial annual costs savings could be achieved.

We will make an announcement on next steps in relation to setting up Great British Railways in due course.

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