3
THE WHOLE NETWORK CHALLENGE
The intended hierarchy of GBR has been defined as an“ inverted pyramid”. This places customers at the top as the highest priority. Serving them are the Integrated Railways( IRs), described as“ the powerhouse of GBR”.
These have strategic precedence over the Divisions of GBR, which are described as“ centres of excellence across the network”. The Divisions in turn are more important than the national Network function, which will provide a“ whole system approach”.
This approach has many merits, with its intention of placing decision-making as close as possible to the railway’ s customers. As already described, good progress has been made in setting up the first IRs.
However, many of the railway’ s customers, both passenger and freight, do not experience the railway through a single IR. In the same way, many railway staff, although they may work in one IR, will interact with services across the network and customers crossing the boundaries of IRs. Around 40 % of passenger journeys on the national network, plus freight, will be outside GBR and will need to interact with it.
Furthermore, many operators run train services across multiple IRs; for example, CrossCountry operates services within 11 current Network Rail Routes, and freight operators run many similar services. Some routes such as the East and West Coast Main Lines have a dominant passenger operator but are by their nature multi-operator routes.
While the intention with GBR is to bring together track and train, there are many stakeholders outside GBR which will have an interest in its operations. The draft Railways Bill makes specific provisions for the creation of a statutory role for Regional Mayors in influencing services, and draft Memorandums of Understanding have published with the Scottish and Welsh Governments. It is easy to see how the wishes of one devolved organisation could conflict with those of another within a Division of GBR.
This highlights a fundamental issue – while the desire for local input is laudable, the railway is and will remain a national network. Great British Railways is intended to create a simpler, more accountable railway: one organisation, one brand and one directing mind for the national network.
The central policy challenge is that the railway will still operate as a complex system, with multiple geographies, operators, funders, customers and modes interacting every day. If GBR is designed primarily around individual Integrated Railways, without a sufficiently strong national framework, there is a risk that reform replaces one form of fragmentation with another.
This matters most where the railway is at its most complex: multi-operator corridors, major interchange stations, control rooms, timetable planning and freight flows. These are the places where the railway must make trade-offs in real time, and where customers experience the railway as a whole rather than through organisational boundaries.
8 CIRO’ s Operational Agenda for Great British Railways