Rail renaissance: dealing with the consequences of success

Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling discusses challenges facing a growing railway at the Transport Times UK Rail Summit.

It’s always a pleasure to be part of a Transport Times conference.

And today (13 September 2017) is no exception.

And an agenda that tackles some of the big challenges facing the railway today.

Mind you — there are always big challenges facing the railway.

This is an industry that’s been in almost constant flux since the Second World War.

To the reorganisations under British Rail in the ’70s and ’80s.

What’s striking about these landmarks in rail history is that they were all attempts by government to reverse the fortunes of a declining industry.

Nationalisation under Clement Attlee’s Labour government was an attempt to stabilise the ‘big four’ rail operators, each of which was effectively bankrupt.

The Beeching cuts were a radical response to a decade of falling passenger numbers and rising losses.

And privatisation was intended to halt the further slide of the railway — which had seen usage fall by almost a third between 1960 and 1995.

Of all these different reforms, it’s that last one — privatisation — that stands out.

It didn’t just stabilise passenger numbers.

For a growing, competitive, profitable railway that delivered for the passenger and the taxpayer.

And that success is something to bear in mind today.

Because the issues you’re discussing at this conference.

Like franchising, rail investment, and Network Rail’s future direction.

Are all consequences of industry success.

Of a rail renaissance that not even the most enthusiastic supporters of privatisation could have predicted 20 years ago.

The statistic that’s normally used to illustrate the impact of privatisation is that twice as many journeys are made on the railway today as in the mid-1990s.

But there are other achievements that are no less impressive.

Rail’s share of the overall transport market has also doubled.

More trains are running than ever before.