Simpler, better industry processes

GBRTT commission on simpler, better industry processes

Passenger looking at departure board

Regulatory and contractual rules are important and underpin a surprising number of the most basic railway functions. They control how the railway works together to carry passengers and goods safely and efficiently around the network.

Following wide consultation and support across the industry in 2023, we published 30 recommendations for simplifying railway processes.

Our proposals took a ‘whole-system’ view of the underpinning rules which determine how decisions are made.

We’ve now been tasked to take forward those activities that do not require legislation, focusing our efforts where we know we can start to make a positive difference here and now.

We are working on these activities – with the continued support of the Department for Transport (DfT), the Office of Road and Rail (ORR), Network Rail (NR) and train operators – to test, learn and deliver change.

The aim is to put customers first while making work simpler across rail industry bodies, having in mind the future ways Great British Railways (GBR) can be more effective in managing the network fairly, transparently, and efficiently.

For 2024, our focus is on the near-term changes that simplify today’s approaches, as the start of setting a vision for the industry.

This includes simplifying how changes are made at stations, work on the systems involved in delay attribution and improvements to allow earlier decisions when needed to deliver major timetable changes. Other recommendations look ahead to GBR, and will be critical to unlocking the integrated benefits that the creation of a guiding mind can deliver for rail users.  

If you want to know more, you can contact us by email at railwaycommission@gbrtt.co.uk

Blogs about our work on simplification

Simplifying rail industry rules and processes: our recommendations to Government
A simpler, better approach to driving revenue growth

Previous activity

Update: 13 November 2023

Our recommendations for simplifying rail industry rules and processes were published and sent to the Secretary of State for Transport and the Office of Rail and Road:

In the report, we identify opportunities to improve and simplify industry processes in order to achieve better outcomes, often independently of Great British Railways (GBR) being set up. Taken together, these changes represent a departure from the current fragmented railway and present a huge opportunity to create a simpler, better railway. 

Note: The recommendations we have published are not final decisions. Rather, they form a coherent approach set of changes for Government and other key parties such as the Office of Rail and Road to consider.

Update: 26 May 2023

Following feedback on GBRTT's previously shared discussion papers in March 2023, a follow-up paper was produced to update stakeholders on the Commission’s planned work in Phase 2:

Phase 2 included developing recommendations for future changes to access-related regulations – principally the Railways (Access, Management and Licensing of Railway Undertakings) Regulations 2016 (“A&MR”).

Update: 14 March 2023

As part of the Commission to deliver a simpler and more integrated railway, GBRTT published a series of exploratory papers to open its thinking up to industry experts and stakeholders. We have now closed this activity, but you can still access the papers on the website.

Note: The propositions and comments in these papers are work-in-progress and are not government policy.

Update: 29 July 2022

This section includes some of the correspondence relating to the set up of the Commission.