Great British Railways

Baroness Pidgeon Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Pidgeon (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Young of Cookham, for bringing this timely Question for Short Debate. It is a topic of much conversation in transport circles, as this debate shows. Open access railways have allowed private companies to operate train services independently of government contracts, and to date they have been competing with franchise services. However, they are going to be competing with the publicly run Great British Railways services, and that is where the rub may be.

My noble friend Lord Bradshaw and the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, flagged some serious questions about regulation, which I hope we will hear clear answers on today. Noble Lords will recall that, at all stages of the passenger railway services Bill—it feels like a reunion here today—my colleagues and I stressed from the Lib Dem Benches that we were agnostic as to who actually runs the railway. We want real improvements, centred on the passenger.

As I read the DfT’s consultation paper, A Railway Fit for Britain’s Future, the Government are clear that a new, simpler framework will enable GBR to take decisions on the best use of its network. It goes on to say:

“GBR will take access and charging decisions in the public interest”.


In addition to those obligations, the Secretary of State can issue specific directions and guidance on access to and use of the railway when relevant. Presumably, those directions could be for no open access passenger services at all, as I think the noble Lord, Lord Tunnicliffe, and the RMT would support. Presumably it would be at the whim of whoever is Secretary of State, depending on what their view is of open access and what is allowed.

The only thing that is certain is that open access operators will have to fully pay towards long-term maintenance costs for the network and central support costs, which is something we would probably all agree with. However, the only open access that seems to be protected is around freight services—although, if you talk to the freight sector, it is not confident in that at all. There is nothing in this paper that suggests there is any future for open access operators. What assurance can the Minister give the sector today about its future? Even if the Government do not want to see any new open access operators, what guarantee can they give to the routes that already exist today, which, as we have heard, do so well serving places such Hull, and despite the quote that the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, read from the Labour manifesto, which showed some commitment to open access?

The other issue I want to pick up, which is the crux of this debate, is that it may come at a cost to the taxpayer in attracting passengers away with open access trains, as the noble Lord, Lord Gascoigne, pointed out. The contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Young, provided contrary evidence that that was going to be a threat. I thought that I would add some international experience. Last year, a European Commission study looked at Spain, France, Sweden, Italy, Austria, Germany and other examples of rail on the continent. It showed that ticket prices decreased overall with the introduction of open access competition; that frequency has increased hugely on routes such as Vienna to Salzburg and Stockholm to Gothenburg, as well as in other places; and that the more trains there are available, the more passengers will see trains as a viable option and will demand increases. It has shown that open access really can add to the railway.

I conclude my remarks by saying that open access operators have a role to play in our future rail system, as long as they pay their way. They can also see investment in rolling stock and innovation in a way that will be healthy for the passenger. At the end of the day, what do we want? We want a service that is reliable, affordable, efficient and passenger-centred. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response to this debate.