What we do
Building towards a more joined-up railway today
While the sector awaits legislation to create Great British Railways (GBR) to be passed, progress is being made to start joining up the railway today.
It is possible to unlock opportunities for closer working between track and train, to refine and embed the tools that underpin a more joined up approach and to begin changing the culture created by 30 years of relatively siloed ways of working.
Some of our recent achievements include:
- Bringing profit and loss together at a national level for the first time in a generation to inform smarter investment decisions across track and train.
- Generating 2 million+ extra journeys and £109m in additional revenue through leadership of initiatives like the Great British Rail Sale.
- Starting work on a next generation of partnerships in Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to make rail decision-making more locally accountable.
- Producing evidence-led options for a stretching but realistic rail freight growth target, which was set at 75% growth by 2050.
That’s what our work aims to do, and in doing so, to start creating a railway that is:
Easier and better to use
We are supporting train operators and Network Rail to make improvements to the customer experience today, as well as to start bringing greater consistency ahead of GBR.
Our work aims to create a railway where tickets are easier to choose and buy, and train travel is easier for people with additional accessibility needs.
Lower cost to taxpayers
By bringing a ‘one railway’ perspective to the industry’s finances, and to how we attract more passengers and freight customers to use the railway, we are contributing to reducing the cost to taxpayers of running the railway.
This single perspective on the industry’s costs and revenue will be a crucial part of how GBR makes the railway more efficient and creates a new culture where track and train work better together.
Better at supporting local and national ambitions
We are working to give devolved leaders greater input into railway decisions so that, in time, rail can better support their national and regional ambitions, like improved connectivity, regeneration and house building.
Meanwhile, we are developing a long-term strategic approach for the railway which will help to achieve national objectives like economic growth and decarbonisation.
A simpler sector to work in and do business with
We are working to break down organisational boundaries and instil a new culture that fosters collaboration, empowerment, customer-centricity and innovation.
This includes work to facilitate a better relationship with rail’s supply chain, create simpler and better industry processes and to reduce silos and improve trust across the sector.
Some of our current projects
