Government plans to overhaul the country’s deteriorating rail system are far behind schedule and promised savings are yet to be achieved, according to a highly critical report by the government’s spending watchdog.
A National Audit Office (NAO) assessment of the progress of ministers’ plans found that none of the 12 ‘high level benefits’ targets set by the government for rail in 2021 have been achieved.
It also revealed that the government is expected to miss the £2.6 billion in savings it promised by 2024/25, instead meeting only three-quarters of its target.
In 2021, the government published a white paper on rail reform, which included the creation of Great British Railway, an independent organization aimed at providing a “guiding spirit” to oversee the management of the rail network. was. At the time, the airline planned to establish GBR, establish a new operating model and introduce new passenger service contracts by early 2024.
However, the NAO said these and most of the government’s other commitments remained either ongoing or completely suspended.
Of the 12 high-level profit objectives, which focus on issues ranging from finances to customer performance, none were given a green rating indicating they were on track. Five were rated red and the remaining seven were rated amber.
It also found that 21 of the 62 commitments set out in the white paper required legal changes before they could be completed, yet none of the required legislation had been passed.
The Queen’s Speech in 2022 included plans to introduce legislation by the end of Parliament to enable structural reforms to support reform. However, this was pushed back by the government, with last year’s King’s Speech containing no reference to rail reform and the bill being pushed back further.
The NAO report found the program’s governance structure was “complicated and inefficient”.
NAO director Gareth Davies said: “The speed with which the DfT was moving forward with a complex set of reforms meant that there was too little time to plan, build consensus and implement.
“The DfT needs to work more closely with organizations across the rail sector to improve collaboration and culture ahead of any structural change. Make a realistic plan.”
Andy Bagnall, chief executive of Rail Partners, which represents private rail organizations, said the rail sector needed a “root-to-branch” overhaul, but without legislation plans would “remain on sidings”. He said it would be.
A DfT spokesperson said: “In our recently published draft legislation, we set out a clear plan for the future of the industry under Great British Rail, which will now deliver benefits to millions of customers, including expanded pay-as-you-go schemes. We are making improvements to ticketing, piloting simpler fares, and announcing growth targets for rail freight. ”
Separately, the DfT revealed on Thursday that delays on England’s road network are higher than before the pandemic. The company’s statistics show average delays on England’s motorways and major A roads last year were 10.5 seconds per mile per vehicle.
This is up from 9.3 seconds in 2022 and 9.5 seconds in 2019, before the coronavirus crisis. The average speed on the network in 2023 was 57.0 mph, down from 58.1 mph the previous year and 58.0 mph in 2019.
RAC policy director Simon Williams said: “It is deeply worrying that delays on our most important roads have increased above pre-pandemic levels and average speeds have fallen.” .
“With more people than ever working from home for at least part of the week, and the number of cars on the roads not increasing since then, we are trying to determine what is causing this other than roadworks. I’m having a hard time doing it.
A DfT spokesperson said: “The Government is supporting motorists, which is why we are bringing forward plans to invest more than £24 billion in our roads to ease congestion, improve road safety and grow the economy.” he said.
