King's Speech 2026: Railways and Passenger Benefits Bill

Railways and Passenger Benefits Bill

“My Government will improve critical infrastructure with legislation to… establish
Great British Railways”

● Our railways are essential for ensuring reliable, affordable and accessible
transport. They offer a crucial route for people to get to work and education,
they connect friends and families, and they support businesses and the wider
economy. The rail sector and its supply chains support more than 220,000
jobs and generate wide economic benefits by connecting people and places.

● However, the railways have suffered neglect. Services have fallen below
expectation, customers deserve more and taxpayers have been getting poor
value for their hard-earned money. The Bill will finally address this, delivering
on the manifesto commitment to establish Great British Railways and provide
new leadership, accountability, and passenger focus to a sector that has been
in desperate need of it.

● The Bill ensures the railway delivers for those who rely on it most. It
establishes a strong Passenger Watchdog to ensure passengers’ voices are
championed at every turn, simplifies the current confusing and fragmented
ticketing system, and includes duties to protect and grow the freight industry –
unlocking the economic growth opportunities the Government is committed to
delivering.

What does the Bill do?

● Low public trust and pride in today’s railway are symptoms of a system which
has lost sight of the very people and customers it is meant to serve. The
Government is delivering Britain a railway fit for its future.

● The Bill will:

○ Establish Great British Railways (GBR), a new publicly owned
company that will be at the core of the reformed rail industry. GBR will
unite track and train under a single body for the first time in a
generation. GBR will be unambiguously accountable for making the
railway work for passengers, customers, and taxpayers. Whether
reuniting family and friends, transporting critical goods across the
country, or connecting Britain’s business, GBR will ensure that the
railways deliver for all those that rely on it.

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○ Set up a powerful Passenger Watchdog that will set consumer
standards for the railways, investigate poor service, and provide an
independent rail ombudsman service to resolve disputes between
passengers and operators. This means passengers will have an
independent voice fighting their corner and holding GBR to account.

○ Simplify fares and tickets. Buying a ticket is frequently confusing and
opaque for passengers, with no less than 55 million different fare types
available. GBR will consolidate the 14 existing operator websites into a
single online platform, and reform the outdated fares structure making
it easy for passengers to find the most affordable fare. For each
journey there will be one transparent price available to everyone.

○ Realise the benefits of rail freight and ensure freight is properly
considered within GBR’s planning and decision-making, through two
new statutory duties. This means that there will be a single strategic
body empowered to deliver the ambitions for freight and with the levers
to drive progress towards set targets.

○ Provide long-term confidence. GBR will be steered via a new
Long-Term Rail Strategy. This is the first time in railway history the
sector will have a strategy of this kind, providing confidence and
certainty for the industry. The Strategy will inform GBR about the
Government’s priorities for the railway, helping it to make long-term
choices which align with key priorities on housing, the economy, and
the environment.

○ Make best use of the railway. The Bill makes GBR the single
accountable body for deciding access to its rail network. This will rid
the sector of the current complexity and fragmentation which has led to
disagreements on which services to run, delays in producing timetables
and an inability to cope with growing capacity constraints. The only way
to solve this is to put one body in charge of it all, to consider the whole
network holistically and fairly, and to make the best use of it in the
public interest.

○ Empower devolved leaders. The Bill puts power back where it
belongs – closer to passengers and communities. Mayors in Mayoral
Strategic Authorities will have a statutory role, ensuring they have a
powerful voice and are empowered to work in partnership with GBR.
Devolved governments will have bespoke agreements giving them a
clear role in the management of GBR. This is a genuine step-change
and will ensure local interests across Great Britain are considered in
every aspect of GBR’s decision-making.

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Territorial extent and application

● The Bill will extend to the whole of the UK, with most measures applying to
England, Wales and Scotland.

Key facts

● Once all currently franchised services have transferred, public ownership will
save the taxpayer up to £150 million a year in fees that would otherwise
have been paid to private operators.

● Reforms will simplify the industry and unlock £1 billion in efficiencies, which
will greatly outweigh the investment required to deliver a once in a generation
improvement in the way train services are planned and delivered.

● Passengers will save £600 million as part of the Government’s regulated
fares freeze, with passengers on some routes saving more than £300 a year,
as part of plans to put passengers back at the heart of the railway.

● The railway faces a significant affordability challenge. Government funding
for the operational rail industry was around £12 billion in 2024-25. This
covers nearly half of total industry costs and equates to around £400 per
household in Great Britain. It is vital that taxpayers are getting value for
money and a rail service they can rely on and have confidence in.

● Overall levels of government support for operational costs remain nearly £4
billion higher than pre-pandemic. GBR will be incentivised to drive up
revenue, reduce subsidy, and deliver for taxpayers.

● There were around 1.7 billion journeys made by rail passengers in Great
Britain in 2024-25, a 7 per cent increase from the year prior. However, rail
passenger usage has not quite yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Integrating track and train through GBR will support more efficient service
planning and improved performance of the railways.

● Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said “This is a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to overhaul how the railways are run –
creating a service that puts passengers first, with more reliable trains and
simpler fares and tickets.”

● Mayor of the North East, Kim McGuinness, said “Passengers are crying out
for a rail service that works for them. We need our train services to be joined
up and much more reliable – helping more people get to where they need to
be for the right price.”

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● The Chief Executive Officer for the Campaign for Better Transport, Ben
Plowden, said “An accessible, affordable and reliable rail network integrated
with the wider transport system is key to delivering sustainable economic
growth and improving regional productivity. [This] marks another important
step on the road to realising this vision and delivering a railway that works for
passengers, freight operators and the country as a whole.”

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