The
creation
of
the
new
‘guiding
mind’
Great
British
Railways

and
the
passing
of
an
Act
of
Parliament
is
likely
to
be
delayed
until
the
spring,
according
to
reports,
as
government
and
Parliament
remain
tangled
in
wider
political
and
economic
problems.

Official
sources
have
declined
to
give
any
firm
update,
and
the
new
rail
minister
Kevin
Foster
was
reluctant
to
commit
himself
when
he
was
a
guest
at
the
Rail
Forum
annual
conference
in
Derby
on
Tuesday,
saying
only:
‘There’s
a
new
government.
We’ll
take
stock,
particularly
around
the
legislative
agenda.
I
think
we
see
in
the
not-too-distant
future
myself
and
the
secretary
of
state
will
perhaps
set
out
a
little
bit
more
detail
on
where
we
see
the
vision.

‘But
also
we’re
now
starting
to
see
what’s
going
to
be
the
type
of
demand,
particularly
on
the
passenger
side.’

He
added
that
some
lines
have
recovered
well
from
the
slump
in
usage
caused
by
the
Covid
lockdowns,
but
others
are
‘much,
much
lower
than
that’.

He
concluded:
‘It
does
need
to
inform
some
of
our
thinking
about
the
future.’

Meanwhile,
the
Department
for
Transport
has
been
making
progress
in
reshaping
the
former
franchising
system,
awarding
new
National
Rail
Contracts
to
a
number
of
operators
over
the
past
year.
These
contracts,
which
involve
much
less
commercial
risk
for
operators
but
also
much
less
choice
about
how
they
run
their
businesses,
are
part
of
the
proposed
model
for
Great
British
Railways.

Other
operators
are
still
continuing
to
function
under
directly-awarded
contracts
which
are
the
remains
of
the
Emergency
Recovery
Measures
Agreements
introduced
in
2020.

One
of
these
is
Avanti
West
Coast,
which
has
been
given
a
six-month
extension
to
its
ERMA
amid
controversy
over
reductions
to
its
services
which
were
imposed
almost
two
months
ago,
on
the
grounds
that
not
enough
staff
were
willing
to
work
overtime
or
on
rest
days.
Some
of
the
trains
withdrawn
then
have
since
been
restored,
and
Avanti
says
more
are
set
to
return
in
December.