News story
Great British Railways national headquarters to be based outside of London to ensure that skilled jobs and economic benefits are focused beyond the capital.
- Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announces a competition to provide the national home for Great British Railways (GBR), bringing jobs and investment outside of London
- new Transition Team launched to drive forward reforms and create the new public body responsible for running Britain’s rail network
- Transport Secretary sets out commitments that define GBR, including a passenger focus, bringing back accountability and driving towards net zero by 2050
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has today (4 October 2021) announced that a competition will be run to identify the headquarters for Great British Railways (GBR), the single, accountable public body responsible for running Britain’s railways.
As part of major reforms designed to ensure decisions about the railway are brought closer to the passengers and communities they serve, GBR will require a new national headquarters alongside regional headquarters.
The government will soon launch a competition by welcoming expressions of interest with a commitment that the national headquarters will be based outside of London – ensuring skilled jobs, investment and economic benefits are focused beyond the capital.
The competition will recognise towns and cities with a rich railway history that are strongly linked to the network ensuring the first headquarters will take pride of place at the heart of a new era for Britain’s railways.
The Transport Secretary also announced today the creation of the GBR Transition Team under the leadership of Andrew Haines, who will continue to work as CEO of Network Rail.
The Transition Team will now be responsible for driving forward reforms and creating the railway’s new guiding mind. They will initially focus on driving revenue recovery efforts post-pandemic, bringing a whole industry approach to tackling cost and promoting efficiency and establishing a strategic freight unit to boost the sector.
The Transport Secretary has also set out the core goals that will define GBR, including:
- changing the culture of the railways not simply creating a bigger version of Network Rail
- thinking like our customers, both passengers and freight, and putting them first
- growing the network and getting more people travelling
- making the railways easier to use
- simplifying the sector to do things quicker, driving down costs and being more accountable
- having a can-do, not a can’t do culture
- harnessing the best of the private sector
- playing a critical role in the national shift to net zero
GBR was commissioned in May 2021 as part of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, focused on delivering sweeping reforms that create a truly passenger-focused railway.
Published 4 October 2021
Follow this news feed: HM Government