- the public can now make their voices heard as voting
officially opens
- the winning town or city will be announced later this year,
bringing highly skilled jobs and investment outside of London
- a massive 42 towns and cities across applied to be the new
headquarters of GBR
Transport Secretary has today (5 July 2022)
announced that Birmingham, Crewe, Derby, Doncaster,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne and York will compete for the honour of being
crowned the home of Britain’s railways following a competition
that drew applications from 42 towns and cities.
The public vote, which will play a crucial role in determining
the chosen location, has officially opened today. Members of the
public can choose the town or city
they think makes the best case for this prestigious honour
online, with the final decision made by the Transport
Secretary later this year.
The central headquarters will be the heart of the rail network
and will provide strategic direction for the running of
GBR, as well as
bringing a number of highly skilled jobs to the area.
As part of the government’s commitment to level up the
UK, the new GBRheadquarters will be based
outside of London and bring high-skilled jobs to the winning
location. Local economies will be further boosted by a number of
new regional headquarters across the country, putting
decision-making and investment at the heart of the communities
that use those railways day-to-day.
Transport Secretary, said:
Our world-leading railways have served this country well for 200
years and this is a huge step in the reforms, which will shape
our network for the next 200.
Great British Railways will create a truly sustainable, modern
and fair railway network for passengers and freight customers.
I’m calling on people across the country to play a key part in
this once-in-a-generation reform and vote for the new home of our
railways.
Leader of the Great British Railways transition team, Andrew
Haines, said:
A big congratulations to Birmingham, Crewe, Derby, Doncaster,
Newcastle and York for reaching the final stage in the
government’s competition to find the national HQ for Great British Railways.
Since the competition was launched it has been great to see the
interest from towns and cities across Britain who believe
GBR’s home should be
with them. I am really looking forward to the next step and
seeing which town or city has the honour of being the home for
GBR. Good luck to the
final 6.
A huge 42 cities and towns came forward to place their bids to be
the home of GBR
HQ. Applications were measured
against 6 key criteria:
- alignment to levelling up objectives
- connected and easy to get to
- opportunities for GBR
- railway heritage and links to the network
- value for money
- public support
The creation of GBR
was announced as a major pillar of the once-in-a-generation
reforms launched by Transport Secretary in the Williams-Shapps Plan for
Rail just over a year ago. GBR will be a single guiding mind
that ends the fragmentation of the rail industry and drives
benefits and improvements across the network for passengers
and freight customers.
To mark one year since the launch of Williams-Shapps Plan for
Rail, in a speech today, the Rail Minister will discuss the
progress being made so far, including the launch of the Great
British Railways transition team’s call for evidence on new rail
freight growth targets, which will improve the capacity and
resilience of our supply chains and realise the industries
economic and environmental benefits.
