The future of rail: The opportunities for devolution in the Williams Review
Article
The Williams Rail Review (The Review) is a ‘root and branch’ review of railways in Great Britain, chaired by Keith Williams. It forms part of the government’s aim for a world-class railway, which works seamlessly as part of the wider transport network and delivers opportunities across our nations and regions.
The Review’s terms of reference cover:
- commercial models and good value fares prioritising passengers and taxpayers
- clear accountability and joint working benefitting passengers and freight in rail industry structures
- financial sustainability and addressing long-term cost pressures
- improving industrial relations
- ensuring agility to respond to future challenges and opportunities.
The Review’s call for evidence closed earlier this year with a white paper set for autumn ahead of reforms beginning in 2020. The Review produced evidence papers, summarising key themes and evidence. Transport for the North (TfN) highlighted that the evidence papers do not yet look at the effectiveness of devolved decision-making or governance, nor the merits of different models (TfN 2019).
Related items
Taken to heart: Inequalities in heart disease in Scotland
More than 7.6 million people across the UK live with cardiovascular disease (CVD), around twice as many as live with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer combined.Skills passports: An essential part of a fair transition
This month, government will publish its Clean Energy Workforce Strategy. This plan covers two aims. First, filling the growing demand for skills in clean energy industries is essential to keep on track to reach the government’s clean power…Fixing the leak: How to end the £22 billion annual taxpayer losses at the Bank of England
The Bank of England increased its interest rates over recent years, aimed at reducing inflation. But this has also had an unintended effect on the Bank of England’s massive government bond buying – ‘quantitative easing’ – programme.