Guest Comment: Rail devolution under GBR

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner recently announced in the English Devolution White Paper that an additional 8.8 million people will benefit from mayoral devolution in their area, meaning that nearly 80% of England’s population will soon have local leaders with funding and powers over policy areas that will include transport.

The railways are an enabler for growth across the country, and ensuring that rail devolution is part of the toolbox available to both new and existing mayors will be an important component of their success in many areas.

But the government needs to square the circle of Rayner’s proposals to move decision-making closer to local communities (as outlined in the English Devolution White Paper) with the Department for Transport’s vision of a single ‘directing mind’ across the railway in the form of Great British Railways (GBR).

The passing of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act at the end of last year cemented control over Britain’s railways in Whitehall.

While Mayors were promised a statutory say in the running of GBR during the debates over that bill, all the details of how to organise the railways to get the best for passengers have been left until a second bill, on which government has just begun consulting.

In that consultation document, the government has sketched out its approach to devolution. Importantly, it has recognised that one model won’t work everywhere, and that mayors will need a level of control over rail services appropriate to their specific area.

However, while existing mechanisms to devolve control of services will be retained, the government’s proposed framework focuses on broadening ‘strategic engagement’ and collaborative ‘partnership working’ between devolved authorities and GBR, rather than devolution of services.

So, it will be interesting to see how Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander chooses to approach the inevitable calls from local leaders for more than just ‘a say’ in response to that consultation - especially given her own previous direct experience as the Deputy Mayor overseeing Transport for London, under London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.

Both Khan and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham have been vocal in their desire for more direct control of transport in their respective regions, and in wanting to bring rail services under their control.

How these aspirations can be delivered under a centralised ‘directing mind’ and single railway employer is a significant question that the Rail Reform Bill needs to address.

Devolving rail services won’t necessarily be straightforward. Detailed operational issues will need to be worked through on a case-by-case basis, funding arrangements will need to be clarified, and the structure of the railway will need to ensure that GBR treats other operators fairly - including freight and open access operators, as well as devolved services.

However, the size of the prize means that these should be seen as challenges to overcome, rather than blockers which make local control impossible to achieve.

Countries across Europe have shown how regional control of rail services can work in practice, as have cities in Britain such as London and Liverpool.

Devolving ownership and control of rail services to local leaders can have a transformative impact. When integrated into local transport strategies and growth plans, rail services can play a key role in driving economic regeneration and unlocking new housing opportunities.

For example, bringing the London Overground under Transport for London’s control has transformed areas which historically had been poorly connected.

In east London, improvements to the Overground unlocked more convenient travel options from some of the most deprived neighbourhoods to employment centres such as Shoreditch, and helped enable construction of 10,000 homes and a new district centre commercial zone at Barking Riverside.

Coupled with bus franchising powers, local leaders have a significant opportunity to follow the example set by TfL and build truly integrated public transport systems, benefiting the communities they serve.

It is welcome that government has reaffirmed its commitment to developing guidance on how local leaders can request further rail devolution. If it can develop a clear set of criteria about when it will agree to these proposals, that would be a significant step forwards to widening the scope of rail devolution and the potential advantages it brings.

In developing that guidance, it is important to recognise that one model won’t work everywhere - mayors will need the level of control over rail services appropriate to their specific area.

In Rail Partners’ latest report - Great Local Railways, published on 6 February 6 - we set out a more ambitious framework that government could apply to these decisions, with the right model for different areas depending on factors including the overlap between political and railway geographies, the degree of interaction with the wider national rail network, and the appetite and financial capacity of the authority.

In some areas, the inter-connected nature of the railway means that it is likely to be impractical to separate services out from the national network.

For example, in South Yorkshire local leaders could work in partnership with GBR, using the new powers proposed in the English Devolution White Paper to take on a more influential role in the development of GBR’s plans.

Where railway and political geographies align more closely, however, local leaders may want to take on more direct control.

For instance, Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham has recently set out a step-by-step plan to integrate ticketing and branding across eight commuter rail lines into the Bee Network by 2028 (RAIL 1027, 1028).

In the future, he could go further and take those services under direct local control, as Transport for London already does.

Indeed, in limited areas of the country such as Merseyside, there may even be an opportunity for mayors to take on full ownership and control of their local rail networks, as well as train services.

Devolving control of any rail services will take time, but key decisions on the future structure of the railway are being taken now.

As government designs GBR, it will need to facilitate devolution in the future. How GBR interacts with local bodies, while running the railway as a national network, will be key to ensuring devolution is a success.

Government must use the coming Rail Reform Bill to solve the big issues on the railway that passengers and taxpayers care about, and that includes how Angela Rayner’s vision for devolution can exist alongside GBR’s centralised control.