Delays to Great British Railways shows indecision has gripped the Government - The Yorkshire Post says
The Transport Secretary’s Anne-Marie Trevelyan axing of the plan to introduce a Transport Bill during the current parliamentary session shows the indecision that has gripped hold of the Government.
As part of the Transport Bill, a new body, Great British Railways (GBR) was to be created overseeing the rail sector. Doncaster and York were two areas in Yorkshire vying to host the new body with a public vote being held.
However, there is now a cloud over the timeline of GBR’s launch. And it comes after passionate campaigns from both Doncaster and York.
Dame Bernadette Kelly, permanent secretary at the Department for Transport (DfT), told MPs the delay to the Transport Bill means the new body Great British Railways (GBR) will be launched later than planned.
She said: “There are sort of key elements of structural change and the establishment of GBR which require legislation including, for example, I think the formal transfer of franchising powers from the Government – from the DfT – to another entity.
“So there clearly are some things that we can’t fully do structurally without legislation and without those powers.”
Either of the Yorkshire locations would make for a great home for GBR, if it does, indeed, ever get off the ground.
Beyond the launch of GBR, the Transport Bill also included better rights for seafarers following mass sackings by P&O Ferries and legislation on e-scooters and electric car charging.
Instead Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan says her department is now pitching for “a narrow Bill around the future of transport technologies, the legislation around things like e-scooters”.