Railways Bill 2024-26

The Railways Bill 2024-26, bill number 325 of the 2024-26 session, was introduced in the House of Commons on 5 November 2025. The bill will have its second reading on 9 December 2025.

The government introduced the bill to create Great British Railways (GBR). This will bring together most passenger train operators in England and Network Rail, which operates and manages most railway infrastructure in Great Britain, into a single organisation, often described as a “directing mind” for the railway.

In a written statement to Parliament, Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander described the Railways Bill as being a key part of the most significant set of reforms to the rail industry in Great Britain for a generation.

The bill, together with its explanatory notes and other documents, is available on the parliament.uk bill page Railways Bill.

Aims of the bill

The bill intends to implement a Labour manifesto pledge to reform the railway industry in Great Britain. It follows the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which gave the government powers to bring passenger train operators into the public sector as their contracts expire or reach a contractual break point.

Establishing Great British Railways

The bill would establish GBR, a new publicly-owned company. It would set out the functions and duties of GBR and how it would be licensed.

The bill would provide funding for GBR, comprising a five-year funding settlement for operating and maintaining its infrastructure as well as annual funding for GBR passenger train services through the annual Spending Review process. Funding for upgrading infrastructure (as opposed to maintaining it) would be outside of this framework.

It would also:

• set out the core duties of the Secretary of State, Scottish and Welsh Ministers, GBR and the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) when exercising their railway functions
• require the Secretary of State to develop and publish a Long-Term Rail Strategy
• require the Secretary of State to set a target for growth in rail freight, and place duties on GBR, the Secretary of State, Scottish and Welsh Ministers, and the ORR to promote rail freight
• enable GBR to set fares and sell tickets
• create a statutory role for mayoral strategic authorities, to ensure that GBR cooperates with them, consults them where appropriate and considers their local transport strategies in its decision making

Strengthening the Passenger Watchdog

Currently, a number of bodies have a statutory role in representing the interests of rail pasengers, including Transport Focus, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) and the Rail Ombudsman. The bill would give additional powers to Transport Focus, which would become the “Passenger Watchdog” (also called the “Passengers’ Council” in the bill).

The Passenger Watchdog would have the power to set consumer standards in licence conditions for passenger train and station operators, and to monitor whether they are met. This would include standards related to accessibility, paying compensation to passengers in the event of disruption (‘delay repay’) and handling complaints.

It would also have the power to investigate passenger-related issues and to obtain information from the relevant bodies (such as GBR and other train operators).

The Passenger Watchdog would be able to require a licence holder (including GBR, other passenger train operators and other railway infrastructure managers) to implement an improvement plan if it thinks the licence holder will not comply with a licence condition, or as the result of an investigation. If the licence holder does not comply with an improvement plan, the Passenger Watchdog would be able to escalate this to the ORR for enforcement.

The Passenger Watchdog would also take over sponsorship of the Rail Ombudsman from the ORR.

The bill would give some equivalent powers to London TravelWatch for passenger rail services in London.

Creating a new access regime

The bill would establish a new access regime that allows GBR to decide which services can access its infrastructure. Unlike the current system, the ORR would not have a role in these decisions.

The new access regime would require GBR to set out how its network can be best used, and give it the power to approve or reject applications for access to its network from non-GBR train operators (including London Overground, Elizabeth Line, Merseyrail, ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, Transport for Wales, open access operators such as Grand Central and Lumo, and freight operators). It would require GBR to retain sufficient capacity for its own services when considering applications from other train operators.

GBR would also have to set out the framework for how it will charge other train operators which run services on its infrastructure, and develop a performance regime to minimise the impact of disruption to its own services, its infrastructure, and to other train operators’ services.

Third parties could appeal to the ORR about GBR’s decisions on access to GBR’s infrastructure, GBR’s plan to make best use of its infrastructure, the charging scheme and the performance scheme. The ORR could then require GBR to reconsider its decision and direct it how to do this. Such appeals would be restricted by the same principles as judicial review.

Extent and application

The bill extends and applies to England, Wales and Scotland. One stand-alone clause also extends and applies to Northern Ireland (clause 86 Cape Town Convention and Luxembourg Protocol, which relates to the UK’s participation in an international system for financing rolling stock).

Railway infrastructure in Scotland is devolved to the Scottish Government, as are the provision of passenger railways services within Scotland and some cross-border services (such as Caledonian Sleeper). Several clauses in the bill may affect these devolved issues and therefore require legislative consent from the Scottish Parliament.

In Wales, the Welsh Government is responsible for the Wales and Borders passenger rail services. However, unlike Scotland it is not responsible for most railway infrastructure in Wales, with the exception of the Core Valley Lines around Cardiff. As with Scotland, clauses that may affect devolved issues require legislative consent from the Senedd.

Background to the bill

Following major disruption after the May 2018 timetable change, the Conservative government announced a review into the structure of the rail industry. In May 2021, the government published its white paper, the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, which was also influenced by the effects of the covid-19 pandemic on passenger demand and the finances of the rail industry.

The white paper proposed significant changes, including the creation of Great British Railways, which was then described as a “guiding mind”. This would be a single public body responsible for managing most railway infrastructure and most passenger services, as well as for planning the network and passenger services.

Following the 2024 general election, the Labour government announced in the 2024 King’s Speech that it planned to introduce a Railways Bill to create Great British Railways. Between 18 February and 15 April 2025, the government held a consultation on policies to be included in the Railways Bill. The government published its response to the consultation at the same time as it published the bill.

The Transport Select Committee has launched an Inquiry into the bill. This will focus on three key themes: passenger standards and experience, access to the railway, and the role of devolution in the GBR era.

Reaction to the bill

Many in the rail industry have broadly welcomed the bill. Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Rail Industry Association, said that the bill gives clarity in understanding the government’s plans to reform the rail industry. Independent Rail Retailers, the trade association for retailers of train tickets in Great Britain, welcomed the bill’s commitment that independent retailers would be able to compete in a “fair and open market”.

However, others have raised concerns about the access framework and the impact the bill may have on freight and open access operators (operators which do not have a contract with the government and are instead solely funded by fare revenue). Steve Montgomery, Managing Director of First Rail said that it was difficult to see how there would be a level playing field between GBR and open access train operators.

Nick Brooks, Secretary General of AllRail, expressed concerns about changes to the role of the ORR, saying that he did not know of any European country without a strong independent rail regulator.

Some stakeholders have also called for more certainty on non-legislative measures which will be part of the wider programme of rail reform, such as licence conditions for GBR. Maggie Simpson, Director General, Rail Freight Group, said that it would be reasonable for the bill committee to see more about GBR’s licence than has been published so far.

The Scottish Government issued a statement saying that while it supported the policy intent of the bill, it was disappointed that the UK Government did not agree to a fully devolved railway in Scotland.

The Urban Transport Group, which represents the public sector transport authorities for England's largest urban areas, welcomed the bill’s statutory role for mayors. However, Centre for Cities, a think tank focused on the economies of the UK's largest cities and towns, criticised the bill for not setting out a clearer case for devolving control of commuter rail services to Mayors.

Disability charity Transport for All welcomed the bill’s commitment to include disabled passengers in the new Passenger Interest Duty and ensure accessibility is monitored by the Passenger Watchdog.