The return of British Rail?

What’s happened?

ighteen months later than scheduled, the government’s White Paper on the future of the rail industry has arrived. Following a review by Keith Williams, a former boss of British Airways, and transport secretary Grant Shapps, the government has announced a significant revamp. The extent of the change should not be overstated: Britain’s rail industry will remain a semi-privatised hybrid system of state-owned infrastructure and privately run trains. But in a recognition that the current model has generated years of “fragmentation, confusion and overcomplication”, the government is scrapping the franchise system and creating a single public