Great British Railways could become law by Christmas, but the tracks need work

Great British Railways is almost real. The legislation overhauling how the country's rail network is run is in its final stages in the House of Lords, and rail minister Peter Hendy told an industry conference in London this week it has a fair chance of winning royal assent before parliament breaks for winter. If it lands, GBR — a new arm's-length body holding overall control of both track and train — could be written into law by Christmas, according to the Guardian. Great Western Railway joins the government's stable in December, with East Midlands Railway, Avanti and CrossCountry lined up for nationalisation next year.

The to-do list is brutal. Hendy opened the Railway Industry Association's conference by calling every train in the north of England 'clapped out'. Network Rail chief executive Jeremy Westlake closed it by raising the two derailments that hit within 24 hours during a summer of delays. The money tells its own story: renewal spending has fallen by more than £1bn a year over the last five years, leaving it below £4bn annually, per the Office of Rail and Road. The ORR's interim CEO, Feras Alshaker, said it was expected that reliability would decline in that period.

GBR's headquarters will sit in Derby, but Hendy insists it won't be an all-powerful 'Kremlin in Derby'. Power is meant to flow to regional managing directors, a setup already tried at South Western and Southeastern. For Hendy, the payoff is a single point of accountability and an end to the privatisation-era 'culture of blame' that pitted operators against Network Rail whenever things went wrong.

Westlake and Alex Hynes, chief executive of the state operator DFTO, are the poster pair for track-and-train harmony — the two joked about their 'bromance' in a joint stage appearance. Hynes said he tells train staff to 'go find your new best friend on the trackside'. Next year, newly appointed GBR chair John Kingman will pick one integrated boss, and it's unclear whether either man survives that cut. For non-frontline managers, merging and vanishing roles have already meant long stretches of uncertainty.

Hendy reckons integration makes the basics fixable. He pointed to Great Western's troubles with former Transport for Wales trains that decayed after being replaced in service, calling the situation stupid, and flagged the driver shortages that have left most train companies desperately short of staff. 'That's crackers,' he said, adding that fixing these basics matters — and will take time.

Not everyone is sold. Darren Caplan of the Railway Industry Association said his group is very concerned a future secretary of state could reopen five-year funding settlements and make funding even less certain. Conservative shadow transport secretary Richard Holden warned rail could lose out to competing demands, asking whether a new train wins out over a new hospital. Lib Dem transport spokesperson Olly Glover said the benefits will only materialise if the Treasury sanctions more spending. Meanwhile, record compensation payouts for delayed journeys this summer set the baseline — and speakers warned a 'super El Niño' could test the infrastructure like never before.