After nearly 20 years of direct control by the Department for Transport, except for devolved services in Scotland and Wales, the National Audit Office has concluded that Britain’s railway “too often loses sight of the customer”, “misses opportunities to meet the needs of the communities it serves” and “lacks clear strategic direction”.
It adds that none of these three problems are new, nor are the other three problems it found - the rail system is fragmented with unclear accountabilities, needs to become more productive and struggles to innovate and adapt.
The NAO now says that the DfT should “develop its understanding of how it can successfully deliver rail reform” and learn from the way it has failed to deliver such reform so far. In a report published on March 8, the national auditors note that DfT started a five-year reform programme in 2022, which planned to deliver the main elements in the first half of that period. Those elements included creating Great British Railways (not yet done) and designing a new model to operate the rail sector, also undelivered.
It says: “DfT wanted to create momentum and achieve benefits early, reflecting ministerial ambi-tion. It did this despite recognising that it lacked a clear understanding of what it needed to do and how to secure the benefits. In addition, DfT did not have the time to develop contingencies if reform did not go as planned.”
The NAO reports that the
