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Delays to the government’s flagship rail reform plan could cost the Treasury £1.5bn a year, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
The Department for Transport (DfT) has made “limited progress” on its rail reform plan published in 2021, with the majority of changes and expected savings pending “at least until the next parliament”, according to research by the NAO. It is expected that this will come true.
The NAO said in its report that Great British Railway (GBR), the proposed public body to oversee Britain’s rail network, first announced in May 2021, is still years away from being launched. Ta.
last month, I He revealed that only “a handful” of GBR’s 200 staff are actually working on the project, with the rest participating in other projects.
Insiders said much of the work was “shelved and ready to go” but they were still waiting for the government to introduce the bill.
The NAO report claims the delay could cost the government £1.5bn a year in savings, as it relies on the GBR being up and running.
The report also criticized the “unsustainable” amount of subsidies directed towards passenger services and the lack of a “clear plan” for the GBR.
“The NAO report found the program’s governance structure to be complex and ineffective.
“An investigation by the Infrastructure Projects Agency and the DfT in early 2023 reported that governance was in disarray, accountability was unclear and there was no agreement among stakeholders on the scope of the program and delivery approach. The DfT and HMT did not see eye to eye on areas of reform from the government, such as the initiation of powers for British Rail.
“The DfT also no longer expects to achieve steady state savings of £1.5bn a year by 2026-27, as the DfT relies on establishing the Great British Railway.”
The NAO said the performance of Britain’s rail system was “not good enough” for passengers, the cost to taxpayers was “too high” and “needs to change”.
The DfT said it spent £3.1bn in subsidies for rail services in the 2022/23 financial year.
Rail expert Christian Walmer said the NAO report highlighted the indecision at the heart of the GBR project.
He said: “There’s a fundamental disagreement about what they’re going to do, there’s a disagreement with the Treasury about how far the government should go and what the private sector should do around fares.”
“The Great Britain Rail Transition Team lacked clarity on what they were trying to do and it is entirely the responsibility of ministers that the bill did not materialise.” [been passed] …I think the facts speak for themselves, this organization has been around for three years and hasn’t produced anything of substance. ”
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The £3.1bn subsidy the NAO is referring to is the result of external pressures, including the challenges of passenger recovery post-COVID-19, and the savings from rail reform It has nothing to do with it.”
“In our recently published legislation, we have set out a clear plan for the future of our industry under Great British Railway, and now we are expanding Pay As You Go ticketing, piloting simpler fares, We are making improvements that will benefit millions of customers, including announcing and announcing: Rail Freight Growth Goals.