The creation of Great British Railways (GBR) to eliminate industry fragmentation by bringing track and train together has been universally welcomed. Yet it is taking some time to achieve this. Following problems implementing the 2018 timetable, Keith Williams was tasked with recommending a new industry structure. His report recommended the creation of GBR and was published as the Williams-Shapps Report (WSR) in 2021. It is likely that GBR will be created in 2027 after the Government’s Rail Reform Bill becomes law, probably in 2026.
Compared with the WSR, the public sector is to have a greater role. Another difference is that there is no longer a commitment to produce a 30-year long term strategic plan.
This is needed to specify how the newly integrated railway can be best engineered to provide the best service for its passenger and freight customers at the minimum whole life cost. This can only be done by considering trains and infrastructure as a whole system with a full understanding of the whole life costs and benefits of all possible options.
A 1999 Railtrack report on the failure to implement ETCS Level 3 on the West Coast Main Line had a useful table showing how various factors affect capacity on metro and mixed traffic railways. This showed that, while signalling can offer metros significant capacity benefits, on a mixed traffic railway signalling only offers marginal benefits. This is because the primary capacity constraints are infrastructure configuration and the route’s differing train performance and service patterns.
However, recent statements by senior figures indicate that this is not understood. In a recent interview, Lord Peter Hendy wrongly suggested: “wouldn’t you rather do that (invest in ETCS) than build third, fourth, fifth, or six tracks on major main lines.”
Furthermore, there are serious concerns about ETCS’s affordability. Scotland’s Railway, for example, considers that the cost of retrofitting rolling stock is disproportionate. As we describe, this issue is not addressed in Network Rail’s ETCS strategy. Nevertheless, ETCS does offer significant benefits, some of which are described in Clive Kessell’s feature ‘Planning for ERTMS and timetable implications.’
A further misleading statement was made by a Department for Transport (DfT) Permanent Secretary at a recent Transport Select Committee hearing who implied that the only benefit of electrification is decarbonisation. Yet this is just one of electrification’s many benefits, not the least of which is additional capacity. Mixing 110mph passenger trains with diesel-hauled freight trains that struggle to achieve 45mph on gentle gradients creates a significant capacity constraint on the congested southern part of the West Coast Main Line.
Our re-imagining freight feature shows how using electric instead of diesel freight train haulage can save one train path per train. This issue is covered further in Peter Stanton’s feature on freight electrification. This shows how electrification can deliver more capacity than ETCS. Furthermore, the industry is now able to deliver cost effective electrification as shown by Matt Atkin’s feature on the East Kilbride project. This is the latest part of Scotland’s rolling electrification programme which has been shown to reduce electrification and operational costs as well as increasing passenger numbers.
Currently, the Westminster rail investment criteria seems to be minimising capital cost with little account taken of whole life benefits. An example is the promotion of discontinuous electrification using battery trains on lines with freight or 100mph trains for which this is not an appropriate technology.
As highlighted in an article by Malcolm Dobell, gauging also needs to be considered. Although Transport Scotland’s High Level Output Statement (HLOS) devoted three pages to gauging, it is not mentioned in the DfT’s HLOS.
The above shows why GBR needs a whole system engineering strategy. This needs strong engineering leadership that considers all railway engineering disciplines to derive the best whole system approach.
In a Railway200 feature, Mark Phillips describes the early development of railway track. The Stockton and Darlington Railway was a success because it had wrought iron rails. This is an early instance of how the railway is a highly efficient engineered system which offers many benefits, one of which is the way railway track distributes heavy loads. It seems likely that there will still be railways in 200 years time.
Another Railway200 feature outlines the first hundred years of the London Underground since the Paddington to Farringdon line opened in 1863. This shows how the Underground has continually evolved with innovations in tunnelling, electrification, and train design making it a world-class transportation system.
Although the early railways introduced many new technologies, today many consider that the rail industry has a poor record of innovation. Our report on the 2025 Railway Industry Association (RIA)’s innovation conference looks back at previous conferences to consider railway innovations introduced since 2011. Readers can consider for themselves whether this constitutes a poor record of innovation.
Paul Darlington describes 12 innovations that were on show at the recent Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) innovation demonstration day. These were winners of an ‘Innovation in Railway Construction’ competition, funded by Innovate UK and the Department for Business and Trade, to drive innovation in the rail industry.
With increasingly complex connected systems that needed to take advantage of such innovations, cyber security is a key issue. Our feature on the Fleet Cyber Security Conference stressed the importance of making assets secure by design.
Work valued at £87 million was delivered over the Easter weekend within 1,190 possessions across the rail network as we describe. We also describe the work to complete the first bore of HS2’s 5.8km Bromford tunnel near Birmingham and the people involved in this work. Development of the railway’s future engineers is the aim of the IMechE’s ‘Future of Rail’ competition, which we also cover.
Specifying earthworks in a cost-effective manner is the subject of our feature ‘Geotechnic Minimum Viable Product’ which explains the techniques used to ensure earthworks are safe while budgets are reduced.
An excellent example of railway engineers delivering a cost-effective solution 40 years ago was the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) signalling on Scotland’s Far North line. This cost £400,000 to provide, saved £500,000 in operating costs in its first year, and quite possibly saved the line from closure.
A key test for new technology is whether it can achieve such overall cost reductions. This reinforces the need for an informed engineering strategy that takes full account of all associated costs and benefits.