Tuesday’s unveiling of the new train livery and brand design for Great British Railways (GBR) was portrayed by the UK’s Labour government as a great British moment.
The nationalisation of Britain’s railways, a totem policy for Labour, is central to what this UK government wants to say about its mission for Britain, and the role of the state.
Public anger over the decrepit state of the railways, meanwhile, says much about how Britons perceive their own country’s apparent recent decline.
Hours after the patriotic new livery for the proposed national rail company was revealed, the UK’s transport secretary Heidi Alexander, rose in the House of Commons to introduce for its crucial second reading the new Railways Bill, establishing GBR.
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She focused on how part of British national identity historically has been wrapped up in the state of its railway system, and how that identity has, in part, been challenged by the perceived failures of recent times.
“Two centuries ago, the first passenger railway services to run in the UK signified the hope and ambition of a confident nation,” said Alexander.
“Yet today, the same railway symbolises something rather different. Every cancelled service, every cramped carriage, ever dodgy wifi connection not only reflects a railway that has been beset by years of dysfunction, but also it represents a transport system, economy and indeed a whole country that is in desperate need of renewal.”
“National renewal” is what prime minister Keir Starmer promised Britain upon his election 18 months ago. His Labour government, buffeted ever since by problems, views its nationalisation of the railways as a key platform to show what it can do.
“This isn’t just a paint job,” said Alexander. “[GBR] represents a new railway, casting off the frustrations of the past and focused entirely on delivering a proper public service.”
If Starmer’s government proves to Britons that it can fix their beloved railways, Labour thinking goes, it will be easier to convince them it an also fix the National Health Service; the nation’s defences; its public finances; its economy and Britain’s other ills.
Britain’s railway system, privatised in the 1990s, has become a byword for decline. Fares are expensive – a standard one-way, two hour journey from London to Manchester often costs well over €100 if not bought weeks in advance. Meanwhile reliability has plummeted: roughly one in 25 UK services were cancelled in the year to February 1st.
The track infrastructure is already state-owned through Network Rail. Services, meanwhile, were split into about 16 different train operating companies, which bid for private contracts effectively as franchises.
But while the system was run for profit, it remained over-reliant on taxpayers to prop it up. One quarter of the sector’s income last year came in the form of public subsidies. Labour has promised that full nationalisation of the entire system will reduce the cost to taxpayers, boost performance and make booking easier for passengers with a new app.
Nationalisation of train operators began under the last Tory government, which took ownership of struggling companies such as London North East Railway (LNER), which runs Azuma trains on the London-Edinburgh east coast mainline, a flagship route.
Transport is a devolved power in Britain. Scottish services were already nationalised as ScotRail in 2022, while the government in Wales nationalised its services in 2021. GBR will control the infrastructure on the whole island, as well as operators in England.
Seven operators have now been nationalised in England, including Greater Anglia in October and South Western Railways in May. Among the seven left to be nationalised is the oft-maligned Avanti West Coast, which runs services such as the London-Manchester route that is bedevilled by delays.
The Railways Bill, if it passes, will bring GBR into reality.
“Today we kick-start the biggest shake-up of railways in a generation,” said Alexander on Tuesday.
