Industry Commercial | Great British Railways Transition Team

Enabling the best of the private sector to transform our railways.

Private sector partners make a huge contribution to the rail industry, running and improving services and upgrading infrastructure.

We are working with these partners to design a guiding mind that empowers businesses to bring the best of their problem-solving prowess, as well as innovative new ideas – to make rail more relevant to the way people live and work today and put industry finances back on a more sustainable footing.

Creating Great British Railways (GBR) will mark the end of decades of fragmentation. This new guiding mind will provide strategic direction, clear leadership and whole-system thinking, opening up exciting new opportunities for collaboration and innovation with the private sector.

With the big gap in rail’s finances following the pandemic, we need to unlock the full breadth and depth of expertise in the private sector as the industry looks to become more efficient and more relevant to the way people live and work today.

What are we doing?

We’re designing a Great British Railways that can support all types of private sector involvement and innovation, while optimising the use of the network as the integrated system that it is, putting the interests of the customers and communities rail serves first and developing truly collaborative relationships with delivery partners.

Private train operators already play, and will continue to play, a key role in a reformed industry. New contracts will see them receive commercial returns for successfully delivering a service for the public good. We’re working closely with the Department for Transport to establish an attractive offer that spurs strong competition for passenger service contracts – recognising that one size won’t fit all, and working within an environment that supports the innovation and commerciality of freight and open access operators.

Looking more broadly, we have taken the time to understand the barriers to getting the best value and innovation from the rail supply chain who say rail is too siloed, too slow and too prescriptive today. With reform, we have an opportunity to fix that.

In spring 2023, we started executing an engagement plan to effectively engage with the market and increase the shared understanding and vision between rail clients and the supply chain. Two outputs were the Commercial Partnerships Sounding Board and the Market Advisory Group.

Commercial Partnerships Sounding Board

Since it became operational in 2023, the Sounding Board has provided the supply chain with a safe space to be heard, provide feedback and test initiatives. Now it is time to bring clients and suppliers together to discuss the efficiency agenda and promote new ways of working to reduce costs and make the most of the money spent on rail.

Sounding Board members are selected independently of GBRTT following an open call. The selection process ensures SMEs and larger businesses from track and train and diverse backgrounds are all represented. As part of our commitment to transparent conversations, we have shared the outputs from these sessions in a summary report for each cohort:

Market Advisory Group

The Market Advisory Group (MAG) is a space to test both the information that could be provided to a specific market and the information sought from it to improve railway reform initiatives. This allows also us to try out principles for establishing an open and sustainable approach to engagement that does not generate any commercial sensitivities or suspicions that could harm competition.

In March 2024, a one-off Rolling Stock MAG was held to discuss the future direction of passenger rolling stock products and their commercial and procurement models. Rolling stock is a well-established market and one of the most critical and high-value areas for which the industry shall ensure value for money and maximise the benefit of the integrated track-and-train approach.