Transport Insights

The Department for Transport (DfT) has issued one of the most baffling press releases I have ever seen, whose role seem to be to make it look as if the creation of Grant Shapps’ Great British Railways (GBR) is “on track”, when it really isn’t.

Apparently:

• Shadow GBR moves to a new phase in March 2026 as Laura Shoaf joins the DFTO board, creating a solid foundation for the next stage of rail reform
• DFTO board also welcomes Tony Poulter, former GBR Transition Team Non-Executive Director
• developments bring experts together to continue to pave the way for the creation of GBR in 2027

The 2027 date is because the actual GBR cannot come into existence until around 12 months after the Railways Bill receives Royal Assent and it’s not exactly steaming through Parliamentary processes.

So the DfT wants to show that things are happening in the meantime and is limited to board level changes.

But what does this mean?

The appointments mark the official transition towards GBR from Shadow Great British Railways (SGBR), chaired by Laura Shoaf.

It looks as if shadow GBR is being wound down and folded into the Department for Transport Operator (DFTO) but somehow the DfT won’t or can’t say this directly.

Last month, writing for Local Transport Today/TransportXtra, my colleague Rhodri Clark reported that while the DfT expected to have the first chair of GBR in post within months, it had not yet decided what to do with its Shadow GBR activity:

Last week, LTT asked the DfT when SGBR would be wound down, or what would be the purpose of continuing SGBR after the GBR Chair’s appointment, and whether the DfT would continue to pay Shoaf for her role in addition to paying the GBR Chair.

The DfT said it was keeping SGBR under review and considering how to build on SGBR’s collaborative approach.

Today, I’m none the wiser.