GBR in the Midlands

Rail reform will create a new national railway, combining the train operators and Network Rail into a single organization, Great British Railways (GBR). This will be headquartered in Derby, but devolved to geographically-based business units, typically based around Network Rail’s 14 routes. These business units will be quite large, with track and train both reporting to a single Managing Director for that part of the railway. So, for instance, there will be a single MD for the whole of Anglia, who will be responsible for services in Northeast London, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire.

Seven of the business units have reasonably clear geography, with strong alignment between train operators and infrastructure: Anglia, Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Western, Wales & Borders, and Scotland. These account for 30-40 million passenger KM per year each.

It’s messier in the middle of the country, with local and intercity operators cutting across six infrastructure routes, accounting for 200 million passenger km per year. Northern is the largest operator, and has substantial operations on two routes: North West and North & East. West Midlands Trains has substantial operations on Central and West Coast South. East Midlands Railway is the most aligned to a route, but there are several local services operated by CrossCountry, and East Coast slices through it. East Midlands, on its own, would be on the small side for a business unit.

The default is to split six ways, with high levels of off-route running. This would pair the East Coast route and East Coast services, the North & East route with Northern, the North West route with Transpennine, the East Midlands Route with East Midlands Railway, the West Coast route with London Northwestern and West Coast services, and the Central route with West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, and Chiltern. Northern, in particular, would have most of its services off-route.

Alternatively, we can base it around the main existing railway offices in Birmingham, Manchester, and York. Ideally, each would have responsibility for a mix of local and intercity services, so that they can provide an integrated service. With a blank sheet of paper, you might have Manchester responsible for the North West route, and be the base for West Coast, Transpennine, and North West locals. York would be responsible for the North & East and East Coast routes, and be the base for East Coast, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and North East locals. Birmingham would be responsible for the Central, West Coast South and East Midlands routes, and be the base for West Midlands, East Midlands, CrossCountry and Chiltern.

Splitting into three rather than six creates larger but much more coherent business units. The creation of GBR provides the opportunity to not only integrate track and train, but also to integrate the plethora of operators, and perhaps even to integrate the East and West Midlands.

Richard Mann is the​ Rail Strategy Lead at Midlands Connect.