The Department for Transport (DfT) is consulting on Great British Railways legislation and the process of rail reform. The gives everyone with an interest in the railway the opportunity to feedback on the proposals.

The consultation is focused on:

• The establishment of Great British Railways, its proposed functions and duties;

• How the government will ensure clear accountabilities in the rail sector through a new governance framework;

• Reform of wider industry structures and processes that are needed to deliver transformation and a new industry culture.

Community Rail Network has submitted a response using insights from our team, board, and from across the community rail movement. We would encourage our members to use the contents to help inform their own response to this consultation, should they be considering submitting one. The deadline for all responses is 11:45pm on 4 August 2022.

You can read our full response here.

This consultation focuses solely on the legislative changes required to deliver Rail Transformation. Some important elements of Rail Transformation are not being consulted on here because they do not require primary legislation, including areas such as innovation, local partnerships, and the 30 Year Industry Strategy. However, the DfT has stated that it will engage on the non-legislative reforms through other mechanisms.

We expect there to be a number of future consultations on the detailed functions and duties of GBR, and we remain in ongoing, detailed conversations with the GBR Transition Team in relation to community rail’s role as rail reform moves forward.

You can feed in your views on any aspect of Rail Transformation, at any time, to your usual contact within the Community Rail Network team.