Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the compatibility of Great British Railways with the EU Fourth Railway Package.

The EU Fourth Railway Package will have no effect on the establishment or operation of Great British Railways (GBR).

The Railways Bill will enable the Railways (Access, Management and Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations 2016 to be disapplied in relation to GBR’s infrastructure. This is necessary to deliver the Government’s policy of bringing track and train together in a single, integrated railway body.

The Bill will establish a new access and charging framework, enabling GBR, as the railway’s Directing Mind, to take a whole-system approach to access and capacity decisions and make the best use of the network in the interests of passengers, freight customers and taxpayers.