As the dust settles on Andy Burnham's cabinet appointments, continuity in the Department for Transport – with Heidi Alexander remaining as transport secretary – is welcome. Rail reform is one of the largest undertakings the Labour government has embarked on; an agenda that’s been years in the making. Switching political leadership now would cost momentum the industry can't afford to lose.
But continuity within the ministerial team only helps if it comes with continuity of attention. A new prime minister arriving with a packed agenda creates a risk that a huge, technical reform gets crowded out by projects that make better headlines.
That would be a mistake. Getting Great British Railways right isn't only about building a better rail system; it’s about showing what a modern, progressive approach to one of our great public services looks like, and how that approach can be applied to rebuild other public institutions. With the water sector already in Burnham's sights, GBR’s success or failure will be a litmus test for whether this government can successfully bring privatised industries back under public control.
The creation of GBR also intersects with another important political trend: devolution. The prime minister has wasted no time outlining his ambitions on this. Setting up a huge centralised public body in an era of devolution will be another important test for how this government can prosecute other aspects of its public control agenda.
An industry in need of certainty
The rail industry needs certainty. Too often it has been treated as a political points-scoring mechanism with every change of leadership within and between political parties. As a result, major projects such as HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail have struggled with a lack of clear direction and financial security.
GBR is set to be established in early 2027, but concern is already building across industry about a hiatus in strategy, direction and delivery. Keeping the focus on the overall purpose of reform – and the progress being made towards it – will be critical in the coming months. Private companies operating, building and investing in the railways will also need to know the industry is worth their continued time and attention, or they’ll go elsewhere.
Urgent choices
With the clock ticking, here are three recommendations – building on our recent interim report – which the transport secretary should prioritise.
Firstly, make senior appointments quickly. The announcement of who will chair GBR was originally promised for May 2026. The chair will help recruit the chief executive of GBR and non-executive directors, and will be expected to act as a visible leader from day one, leading cultural change, championing GBR, and setting it up to transform passenger experience. Without a chair in place, much of this remains in limbo.
Secondly, give clarity to devolved partners. Rail policy and devolution policy are both developing quickly. Without greater clarity on what these changes mean in practice for regions and nations, there is a risk that competing priorities and expectations undermine what must be trusting and constructive partnerships. To do this, ministers should provide greater clarity on how GBR will intersect with place-based and devolution issues, and provide more detail on how these partnerships will be formalised over time.
Thirdly, make visible progress on long-term strategy. A timeline published by DfT in June promised a discussion paper setting out the government's proposed plans for the Long-Term Rail Strategy in summer 2026. The strategy will be central to informing the direction and priorities of the industry as it works towards the creation of GBR. Delivering this document on schedule will go a long way to assuage concerns about a hiatus in industry direction and delivery.
Rail reform is unlikely to grab the headlines that other parts of Burnham's agenda might in the months ahead. But if this government wants to prove it can successfully run the public institutions it is building, and set a template for other key sectors, keeping GBR on track is where that test begins.
Isabella Lawson is an associate at the Future Governance Forum