Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the core goals set out in Great British Railways, published in May 2021, what steps he plans to take to change the culture of railways.

As set out in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, published May 2021, a new rail body, Great British Railways (GBR), will be established, absorbing the current infrastructure owner, Network Rail. GBR will be a new organisation with a commercial mindset and strong customer focus. It will have a different culture to Network Rail and very different financial incentives from the beginning. For example, new Passenger Service Contracts to run trains will be based on strong incentives for private operators to run high-quality and punctual services for passengers, moving away from the current franchising model.