20th January 2026

Our Policy Director John Thomas gave evidence to this Committee in the UK parliament, London, alongside Steve Montgomery of our member operator First Rail and Maggie Simpson OBE of Rail Freight Group.

Our key points were:  

Put neutrality in the Bill – The future Great British Railways (GBR) must be fair and non-discriminatory in its decision-making. That’s how you make the best use of scarce capacity – for customers and communities – and give the private sector the confidence to keep investing.

Fix the appeals framework – The Bill’s appeal route to the UK rail regulator Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is currently too weak: -> unclear grounds for appeal -> and if the ORR cannot weigh future consumer benefits of competition, then an open access appeal risks being dead on arrival

Remove the draconian power The Secretary of State’s future power to remove or amend access rights is excessively broad. If it stays that way, it will price risk into investment – or stop it altogether.

And zooming out, these reforms run against the global direction of travel – market opening and competition frameworks being pursued across the EU and also in the US, parts of South America, and Australasia.

We have further concerns set out in our written submission to the Committee – we’ll publish in due course.

Watch John’s session on Parliament TV here: https://lnkd.in/ehrRQaVN