A new competition will be run to find the new headquarters for Great British Railways, Transport Secretary Grant Shapp has announced.
The news of the competition came on Monday the 4th of October as the Transport Secretary also revealed that a Great British Railways (GBR) Transition Team will also be created under the leadership of Andrew Haines, who will continue to work as CEO of Network Rail.
The GBR Transition Team will push forward reforms to form the new public body and will be the singularly accountable public body responsible for running Britain's railway network.
GBR's initial focus will be on driving revenue recovery following the pandemic and creating a whole industry approach to tackling cost whilst promoting efficiency and establishing a strategic freight unit that will bring improvements to the sector.
Part of the purpose of the reform will be to ensure decisions about the railway are carried out closer to the passengers and communities which they serve and plans to bring sweeping changes that will build a thoroughly passenger-focused railway.
GBR will also require a new national headquarters alongside its regional headquarters and the competition will soon be launched by the government who will be welcoming interest with a commitment for the national headquarters to be based outside of London, which will demonstrate skilled jobs, investment and economic benefits are concentrated beyond the capital.
Towns and cities with rich railway histories and have strong links with the network will be recognised and will mean the first headquarters will be centred right at the heart of a new era for Britain's railways.
The Transport Secretary has made commitments that will define GBR, including a heavy focus on passengers, the return of accountability and driving towards net-zero by 2050. The core goals that will define GBR also include:
- Changing the culture of the railways and not simply creating a larger version of Network Rail
- Thinking like customers, both passengers and freight, and putting them first
- Growing the network and getting more people travelling by train
- Making railways easier to use
- Simplifying the sector to get things done more quickly, 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
In May 2021, GBR was commissioned as part of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail.
Where Next?
RAILADVENT NEWS
The latest railway news
RailAdvent Plus
Railway Discounts, 4k Video, pictures and more!
FREE NEWSLETTERS
Signup to our daily and weekly newsletters
RAILADVENT SHOP
Railway Prints, DVD's / Blu-Ray's, books and more
LOCOSTOP COMMUNITY
Come and share your railway pictures
UK STEAM INFO
Upcoming mainline steam tours/loco movements
Gov.uk
Visit their website
Maybe have a Great British Railways north HQ in Crewe, Manchester, Darlington, Leeds, Carlisle, Derby, Nottingham, Newcastle, York or Sheffield. And a south HQ in Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Brighton, Southampton, Exeter, Bristol, Cardiff, London or Norwich.
“Levelling Up” = buying votes in the areas where the Conservatives have ousted Labour. Northern folk are not stupid, so you may be wasting your efforts.
The cost and disruption of moving thousands of jobs north along with a big flashy expensive corporate HQ. Is hardly a good use of tax payers money.
Still why let something like that interfere will party political gain
Does this mean that the rail network will be re-nationalized, if it does ‘thank god for that.’ Hopefully the government may put passengers first instead of profits.