It’s been a while since I’ve posted something railway related on my website. This recent news regarding railways in Britain is huge because the UK Government have drafted plans to end railway franchising and to simplify ticketing, although the operations will remain privatised.
Excerpt from Department for Transport
• biggest change in 25 years sees creation of new public body Great British Railways – a single, familiar brand with united, accountable leadership
• simpler, modern fares delivered, starting with new flexible season tickets on sale from 21 June and a new Great British Railways website for all tickets and clearer compensation
• reforms support delivery of a financially sustainable railway as country recovers from coronavirus (COVID-19), with new contracts focused on punctuality and improved efficiency, making it easier and cheaper to plan maintenance, renewal and upgrades
A quarter-century of fragmentation on the railways will end as they come under single, accountable national leadership, as the government today (20 May 2021) unveils a new plan for rail that prioritises passengers and freight.
A new public body, Great British Railways (GBR), will integrate the railways, owning the infrastructure, collecting fare revenue, running and planning the network, and setting most fares and timetables.
GBR will simplify the current mass of confusing tickets with new flexible season tickets and a significant roll-out of more convenient Pay As You Go, contactless and digital ticketing on smartphones. A new GBR website will sell tickets and a single compensation system for operators in England will provide a simple system for passengers to access information and apply for refunds.
There will remain a substantial and often greater role for the private sector. GBR will contract private partners to operate most trains to the timetables and fares it specifies, with a model similar to that used by Transport for London in its successful Overground and Docklands Light Railway services.
The new Passenger Service Contracts will include strong incentives for operators to run high-quality services and increase passenger numbers. They will not be one-size-fits-all: as demand recovers, operators on some routes, particularly long-distance, will have more commercial freedom. Affordable walk-on fares and season ticket prices will be protected.
The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, published today, sets out the path towards a truly passenger-focused railway, underpinned by new contracts that prioritise punctual and reliable services, the rapid delivery of a ticketing revolution, with new flexible and convenient tickets and long-term proposals to build a modern, greener and accessible network.
I suggest reading the document titled “Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail” on the government website.
Here’s something I’ve found interesting from the document:
There will be a national brand and identity to emphasise that the railways are one connected network.
The rail network should feel like a network, a coherent, consistent, clearly-branded operation that gives passengers confidence in using it. Most successful consumer businesses, including retailers and airlines, aim to create similar levels of consistency and brand identity.
Great British Railways will use updated versions of the classic ‘double arrow’ logo as well as the Rail Alphabet typeface, used in this document. Even after 25 years of privatisation, the logo remains the most widely-used and best-recognised symbol of the railways. It is the standard marker on road signs. It appears on most tickets, online, and at the vast majority of stations. It will stay in those places and increasingly appear on trains, uniforms and publicity material too as and when these are upgraded or replaced as a single, unifying brand for the railways. Keeping it also avoids spending money on yet another new railway logo.
People are understandably sceptical about the frequent rebranding of trains and stations carried out under the privatised system, so the branding will be introduced alongside other improvements. Variants to the national brand will be developed to reflect the English regions, Scotland and Wales, while emphasising that the railway is one network serving the whole of Great Britain.
My suggestion for the railway lines is for them to have their own unique identity, equivalent to the London Underground lines making it easier for commuters to know which railway line to take.
Proposal for London Overground
In his 2021 London Mayoral Election Manifesto Sadiq Khan proposed giving names (and potentially own colours) to London Overground lines to give them a unique identity for the services. Now he’s been re-elected it will be interesting to see if the proposal will come in to play. The idea is nothing new, I’ve found an article published in 2019 on ‘City Monitor’ website where the author suggests TfL should give unique identities such as line names to London Overground to make it much easier for commuters to know which service to use when travelling to their destination.
Although the names do exist, such as East London Line (which used to be part of London Underground before 2007), North London Line, GOBLIN, West London Line, Lea Valley lines, Watford DC and Romford-Upminster Line, they are not officially named on TfL’s literature, such as Tube Maps etc.
Whenever there’s an issue with the London Overground, TfL mentions on their status that the whole London Overground is disrupted, therefore the commuters will have to expand to see full details on which part of the London Overground is disrupted. By providing unique identities to London Overground services, it will make it easier for commuters to know which services have been disrupted. The same goes for TfL Rail because there are two separate services in East (Liverpool Street to Shenfield) and West (Paddington to Reading/Heathrow Airport) parts of Greater London.
Is London Overground part of ‘National Rail’ network? Yes and TfL Rail (Crossrail Elizabeth Line) too!
Last year, the Department for Transport proposed the transfer of Great Northern services to London Overground, coming out of Moorgate Station (Northern City Line); they expect the transfer to occur on September 2022. Prior to 1975, the Northern City Line was part of London Underground, then in August 1976 British Rail took over the service to provide more connections for the services.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds as the Great British Railways plan is finalised over the coming years. Especially with TfL, as their current financial deal was recently extended to 28 May to enable them to finalise their new deal with Department for Transport.
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