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Great British Railways: Franchises scrapped and changes to season tickets as part of major revamp to UK s train network The rail network will be rebranded Great British Railways as part of a restructuring intended to simplify the organisational chaos of the franchise system and rebuild passenger numbers following COVID-19.
A quarter of a century after British Rail was broken up and the network privatised, the new public body will subsume Network Rail s responsibility for track and stations, as well as taking responsibility for ticketing, timetables and network planning.
Trains will still be run by private companies under new Passenger Service Contracts that will replace the dysfunctional franchise arrangements.
The carnet-style tickets will allow travel on any eight days in a 28-day period. They are being introduced as part of the Government’s sweeping reforms of the railway. The DfT said potential annual savings compared with buying daily tickets for passengers who commute two days a week include: – Woking to London: More than £250 – Liverpool to Manchester: More than £220 – Stafford to Birmingham: More than £160 For people commuting three times per week, here are three potential savings: – St Albans City to London: More than £220 – Bromsgrove to Birmingham: More than £120 – Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads: More than £90 Tickets will be on sale from June 21.
The creation of a new public sector body to oversee Britain’s railways will simplify a system that is “too complicated”, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.
Great British Railways (GBR) will own and manage rail infrastructure, issue contracts to private firms to run trains, set most fares and timetables, and sell tickets.
It will absorb Network Rail in a bid to end what the Department for Transport (DfT) branded a “blame-game system” between train and track operations when disruption occurs.
Mr Shapps said during the 2018 timetable fiasco there was no “Fat Controller” in charge of the system, referencing the Thomas The Tank Engine stories.
CONTROL of trains and track will be brought under a new public sector body named Great British Railways (GBR) as part of sweeping reforms, the Department for Transport has announced. The organisation will own and manage rail infrastructure, issue contracts to private firms to run trains, set most fares and timetables, and sell tickets. It will absorb Network Rail in a bid to end the current “blame-game system” between train and track operations when disruption occurs. The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail has been published as a white paper. It is based on the recommendations of a review of the industry carried out by former British Airways chief executive Keith Williams following the chaotic introduction of new timetables in May 2018.