Our Blogs

By Jacqueline Starr, Chief Executive Officer, Rail Delivery Group

As Britain recovers, rail can turn hope of a new, cleaner economy into reality as - unlike other modes of transport - every passenger and taxpayer investment in rail delivers more than a journey 

With the country emerging from the pandemic, the green shoots of spring starting to show and passenger numbers starting to recover, now more than ever we need to inspire more passengers to see our beautiful country by train. 

The rail network is a source of many benefits - to passengers, but also to the economy, the environment and wider society, which is why encouraging people back onto trains is so vital. On average, leisure passengers by rail spend £117 per trip, supporting local jobs and businesses and helping to level up areas that might otherwise be left behind.  

From an environmental standpoint, we know that rail is one of the greenest modes of travel that produces only a third of the emissions of car journeys. With one train taking on average 500 cars off the road, we know choosing sustainable travel is one of the key ways to help the country to meet its net zero ambitions.  

Socially, rail provides mobility, which can help improve access to services such as education, employment and leisure, particularly for those who might otherwise be cut off.  

But beyond this, the rail network is a source of delight for passengers, from trainspotters and enthusiasts to keen travellers. It can help people relax, unwind and alleviate stress. Data from National Rail revealed that when surveyed about what they most enjoy about train travel, 55% of people said the scenery out of the window, while 24% said the movement of travelling by train makes them feel a sense of calm.  

To emulate those feelings, we’ve launched ‘Great British Journeys’ on National Rail’s YouTube channel, which provides viewers with an exclusive driver’s eye view of the country’s most beautiful train journeys. We’ve designed this series to inspire people to explore the nation by train, while helping them relax and unwind with views of the picturesque routes.  

Along with releasing new videos every week for six weeks, Great British Journeys will be streaming nine hours of uninterrupted footage on a loop so viewers can tune into the ‘live’ channel at any time and see stunning scenery on journeys across Scotland, Wales, Devon and East Anglia. We hope that as well as relaxing viewers, these journeys will serve as inspiration for passengers to plan their next adventure by train.  

With the end of restrictions, more leisure travel means that we can get back to seeing the places and attractions we’ve missed, with the people we love. It’s time to get back on track.  

Sit back and relax. Watch the video on YouTube here

By Andy Bagnall 

It’s just over three months since leaders from around the world gathered in Glasgow for the United Nations summit to agree further plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The Conference of the Parties delivered a ‘Glasgow Climate Pact’ with a view to turning the 2020s into a decade of climate action. Transport too had its own dedicated day on the conference agenda with decarbonisation of the sector increasingly a subject of global attention. Indeed the sector now accounts for around a fifth of total global carbon emissions and remained a stated priority for the UK government leading up to the summit. 

As we look to build on the legacy of the COP26 conference, plans for our transition to net zero will need to be both inclusive and holistic, comprising not just the right infrastructure investment but creating a reformed commercial environment which allows the private sector to help deliver against the government’s wider policy priorities. 

Today I was pleased to speak at the first in a series of ‘Beyond COP26’ roundtables, where policymakers and business leaders met to discuss the scale of transformation needed. I outlined the vital role rail has in driving a stronger, greener economy, reducing carbon emissions by two thirds compared to cars while connecting more people to greater opportunities, especially in the North and Midlands. 

Projects like HS2 not only create thousands of jobs (so far HS2 has created 20k jobs, 400k supply contracts 95% of which are UK and 65% SMEs) but once built will provide the much-needed capacity to facilitate long-term modal shift to cleaner, greener trains. Linked with Northern Powerhouse Rail, which addresses vital east-west connections for both passenger and freight trains, the right infrastructure has the potential to form the backbone of a truly integrated, low carbon transport system. 

Increasingly, the cost of inaction – to the environment, to livelihoods and the economies of some of the UK’s regions – is becoming greater than the cost of taking the necessary steps to transition to net-zero. RDG welcomed the record investment committed to by government in last Autumn’s Integrated Rail Plan but scaling back the plans means leaving out key pieces of the jigsaw (the eastern leg of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail) which will inevitably hold back the ability for the railways to power the levelling up agenda and the drive to net zero. 

Of course major infrastructure projects come at a cost and given the challenging post pandemic fiscal environment, investment in rail must be weighed up against competing priorities. But there are other ways to generate direct economic and environmental benefits in the present. Our ‘Easier Fares for All’ report identifies that, with the right reforms to rail fares, we can make best use of current capacity on the network, more evenly spreading demand by reducing price cliffs between peak and off-peak times. Smoothing the ‘shoulder peak’ cliff edge would encourage even more modal shift, with a better range of good value fares for green public transport. 

The rail freight sector too is ideally placed to help support a green pandemic recovery, operating on a truly national scale. A single rail freight path can generate up to £1.5 million of economic benefits each year with no investment required. Moreover, freight removes the need for 7m lorry journeys, each year saving around 1.4 million tonnes of CO2.

Additionally, the emergence and deployment of new technologies will be integral to meeting future sustainability ambitions. As an industry we want to go further to decarbonise by applying technologies such as hydrogen and battery to the network, as well as more traditional electrification, with power coming from renewables. Building on the railway’s proud history, we want to unlock new, high skilled jobs for the green industrial revolution. Our analysis suggests that this programme could support an average of 6,000 jobs per year between 2024 and 2050. These are jobs both in delivering the work, via a rolling programme of electrification and the assembly of the new rolling stock that would be needed. 

Rail will be crucial to delivering a fair recovery across Britain’s cities, towns, leisure destinations and rural areas, reducing social exclusion and supporting the levelling up agenda. How reforms and infrastructure will be delivered across all levels of government though remains a crucial question. Bringing decision making closer to home is essential to ensuring that public transport is a positive force for communities – whether on a regional or local level - but there will be difficult trade-offs to be managed between local leaders and Great British Railways. Ensuring that that relationship and those accountabilities are delivered in a way that best serves local communities will be vital.

It is up to both government and business to build on the legacy of the COP26 conference and deliver a stronger, greener future for Britain, but the right conditions must exist to enable companies to rise to the challenge. The UK’s net-zero strategy needs the right policy landscape and the right levers available to the private sector to successfully keep global temperatures below 1.5C degrees. 

GBRTT’s recent call for evidence, to inform their 30-year Strategic Plan for the industry (formerly known as the Whole-Industry Strategic Plan, or WISP), was an opportunity for the wider industry to formally submit their views.

RDG, on behalf of its Owning Group and Freight Board members, submitted a comprehensive response, which was developed and coordinated with the support and guidance of RDG’s Planning Oversight Group (POG) and its dedicated Task-and-Finish Group. The submission is backed up by solid evidence and research, such as the ‘Assessing the value of rail freight’, and the ‘Catalysing a green recovery: creating jobs by building Britain’s net zero railway’ research.

The key points of the response include:

• An unwavering focus on the customer must underpin the Strategic Plan, as this will drive passenger and revenue growth which in turn will improve financial sustainability, deliver wider economic growth and support other objectives
• GBR should use its approach to contracting to make best use of the private sector and its proven ability, when properly incentivised, to deliver for customers and taxpayers, to make best use of existing assets and to reduce waste
• Rail can provide the backbone of a sustainable, resilient, zero-carbon transport network that connects communities and supports economic development across the country.
• Rail freight, which brings benefits of £2.45 billion to the UK annually, is critical to levelling up and needs an ambitious target of trebling volumes over the life of the plan
• Successful delivery of the Strategic Plan will depend on each part of the industry understanding its role and accountabilities and focusing on how to make the maximum possible contribution to achieving the strategic objectives. The plan should deliver as much clarity on industry accountabilities and responsibilities as possible
• Operators are committed to playing their part and making the plan a success

Going forward, RDG and its members will continue to be involved in detailed engagement and development of the Plan.

Read the Whole Industry Strategic Plan

By Jacqueline Starr

The latest work from home guidance has lifted and there is an attitude among many people that it is time we learned to live with Covid. For some this means a welcome return to the office, which can already be seen in the numbers. But the picture is not a universal one. Against this backdrop, businesses and their employees the length and breadth of the country are casting their minds ahead to what ‘the new normal’ looks like.

The nature of the return to work, which will take shape over the coming months, will have profound consequences. For the small businesses and retailers that rely on the £16.7bn that rail commuters spend each year, in London alone. For the companies that own that own thousands of square feet of office space that has lain largely empty in towns and cities. For the families readjusting to a life where parents commute again, at least for part of the week.

The world as we knew it before the pandemic has fundamentally changed. The reasons for which people travel have shifted. In the near term, this means more leisure travel as people get back to doing things they’ve missed. There will be fewer commuters as many more people work more flexibly. There may also be less business travel as, while people will want to get back out and meet clients face-to-face, many meetings will remain online.

While nobody is advocating a wholesale return to the past, there is a huge benefit to real life, in-person human interaction. It provides the spark of creativity, the ideas and the relationships on which growth is built.

It would be damaging if the pendulum swung too far in the direction of working from home. To help prevent that from happening, the rail industry has a responsibility to make sure that trains are an attractive choice.

That’s why, over the coming weeks, operators will be running more trains as passengers gradually return. But, with government support to keep the train running during the pandemic topping £16bn so far, they must do this in a way that recognises the cost implications of running trains that are half empty. For now, while people are making fewer journeys than in the past, we must balance the importance of running a frequent service with the number of people traveling, so that the railway doesn’t take more than its fair share from taxpayers. That said,  in most cases there is ample room on board, with over 19,500 trains running a day and 15,300 trains worth of passengers using them.

As well as how frequent their train is, it will also matter to passengers that they arrive on time and can easily buy the best value fare. The industry is improving here too. During the pandemic, better spacing of trains in the timetable means trains have been much more punctual and we are determined to see this trend continue.

On fares, we have used the period of the pandemic to expand the availability of digital tickets, making it easier for people to pay. This includes working with government to roll out flexi-season tickets, which offer flexible workers a discount on their previous monthly ticket. We are also working with government to invest £360m in more tap-in-tap-out systems across the country.

There have also been improvements in the information we provide to passengers, with the expansion of the National Rail Alert Me service, which tells passengers if there is disruption to their journey or their train is busy and offers an alternative route.

But there is more to do as a sector.We know how important it is to the communities we serve, to the environment and to the nation’s recovery that we do all we can do to get people back on board.