Transport Bill
“My Government will improve transport across the United Kingdom,
delivering safer, cleaner services and enabling more innovations.
Legislation will be introduced to modernise rail services and
improve reliability for passengers.”
The purpose of the Bill is to:
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● Simplify the railways to ensure a better and more
reliable service for passengers, to support economic growth
across the country and ensure the survival of the railways.
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● Keep the UK at the forefront of transport innovation,
helping deliver the reforms we have promised to decarbonise
transport, transform the way we travel, and better connect
communities.
The main benefits of the Bill would be:
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● Creating Great British Railways, which will deliver a
better experience for passengers and freight customers with
more punctual and reliable services.
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● Enabling efficiencies and economies of scale across
the rail sector, which is currently difficult to achieve in
today's fragmented system.
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● Enabling innovation in transport, improving safety
and providing new choices for the public, whilst attracting
investment to the UK.
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● Enabling the installation of more electric vehicle
charge points throughout the UK as part of the transition
away from new petrol and diesel car and van sales by 2030 and
building public confidence to switch to zero emission
vehicles.
The main elements of the Bill are:
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● Providing a new body, Great British Railways, with
the powers it needs to act as the single national leader of
the railways, with clear lines of accountability for
decision-making and joined-up leadership to deliver a
customer-focused railway, including by improving
accessibility and promoting open data. Great British Railways
will work within a clear mandate, goals and budgets set by
the Government, who will reserve powers of direction.
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● Transferring contracting powers for passenger
services to Great British Railways, and ensuring we retain
the best of the private sector by expanding its role under
the new model, introducing new passenger service contracts
focussed on getting the trains running punctually and
reliably.
● Introducing new laws that safely enable self-driving and
remotely operated vehicles and vessels, support the roll-out of
electric vehicle charge points and enabling the licensing of
London pedicabs.
Territorial extent and application
● The Bill will extend and apply across the UK.
Key facts
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● Between the privatisation of the railways in 1997 and
the start of the pandemic passenger numbers more than
doubled, rising more quickly than most of Europe.
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● The private sector has invested around £1 billion per
year into the railways in recent years, and in 2019 rail
travel had its highest share of all miles travelled in Great
Britain since 1967.
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● The plans retain a significant role for the private
sector, which will operate services to the specifications
laid down by Great British Railways, and will unleash
exciting new opportunities for the private sector to innovate
in areas such as ticket retailing, and long term asset
maintenance.
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● Legislation for self-driving vehicles will enable an
emerging UK sector in this new technology, predicted by the
Connected Places Catapult in 2020 to be worth £41.7 billion
to the UK economy by 2035 and expected to create 38,000 new
skilled jobs.
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● We estimate that the UK could take a market share of
ten per cent from a global autonomous shipping market worth
£110 billion by 2030.
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● 75 per cent of adults in England believe there are
not enough charge points, a top barrier to switching to
electric vehicles. To address this, we have recently
announced our Electric Vehicle Strategy which sets out our
vision and action plan for the rollout of elective vehicle
charging infrastructure in the UK.
