Williams considering merging ORR with Transport Focus to form a super-regulator?

[Jorge Da Silva]

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...may-beef-up-office-of-rail-and-road-wd6mknhqf

A review of the railways is considering creating a super- regulator in an attempt to police a huge new rail body.

The review, being run by Royal Mail chairman Keith Williams, is considering ways of beefing up the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), which has repeatedly been found wanting during a turbulent few years on the railways.

Sources said one controversial option was merging the ORR with Transport Focus, the passenger-advocacy body funded by the Department for Transport (DfT). However, that is likely to face significant opposition. “If you try to mix up the two, you would get into a real mess,” said a source close to Transport Focus. “You cannot have the judge and advocate together.”

can’t get full access

 

[Tetchytyke]

Whisper it quietly, but Keith Williams is an idiot/stooge (delete as appropriate).

No wonder RDG are gushing in their praise.

 

[frediculous]

Is this not just a case of considering all options? If you're doing a proper review, it makes sense to consider all options, even if they can be immediately discarded.

 

[Railman]

A national body for Rail, split into regions looking after infrastructure and running the trains, its so simple, why has nobody thought of that before

 

[Railman]

Some media stories reporting on evidence from the Williams report to the transport select commitee saying, some plans will take up to 10 years to implement. Does that mean letting all existing franchises run thier natural course??Also quoting that it will appeal to all future goverments no matter which party???Sounds like Re -Nationalisation but of course those words cant be used.

 

[DarloRich]

We have an election coming. This will get parked until after that election when it is possible a new leadership may look at a new direction.

 

[DerekC]

Railways are bound to get some attention in the election (now 99% definite). Labour will certainly bring up nationalisation. Tories will try to cut the ground from under them by announcing something which sounds good but actually retains the private element and overall government control. Not sure that ORR reorganisation is really headline-grabbing enough to feature. The world is full of regulators, most of whom get in the news for their perceived failures.

 

[DarloRich]

Railways are bound to get some attention in the election (now 99% definite). Labour will certainly bring up nationalisation. Tories will try to cut the ground from under them by announcing something which sounds good but actually retains the private element and overall government control. Not sure that ORR reorganisation is really headline-grabbing enough to feature. The world is full of regulators, most of whom get in the news for their perceived failures.

Shall we be honest? Railways will form a very small part of this election campaign. No one in the real world will care. This is about Brexit and the direction that takes.

 

[DerekC]

Shall we be honest? Railways will form a very small part of this election campaign. No one in the real world will care. This is about Brexit and the direction that takes.

I agree that railways will only be half a day's worth of low level headlines, but I am not sure that the election is going to pan out as completely about Brexit. People are so fed up with the subject that politicians will risk turning people off if they talk about nothing else.

 

[DarloRich]

I agree that railways will only be half a day's worth of low level headlines,

Not even that!

 

[irish_rail]

Labour have a snowball in hells chance of winning the election, which means by default Johnson will sneak back in. With a mandate he will be free to wreak whatever havoc he likes on our railways (and nation). Hs2 will be gone, as will any hope of any genuine progress and improvement on the current system.
Only hope is people vote tactically to keep the Tories out and hope for some kind of lib dem Labour coalition but even that's a long shot I'd say.

 

[ABB125]

An interesting article about the Williams Review:
http://railnews.mobi/news/2019/10/28-williams-lifts-the-veil-on.html

KEITH Williams has confirmed that the creation of a new national railway body is to be recommended in his forthcoming Review, and that he is looking at removing the profit motive from passenger train operating contracts, which could become ‘passenger service contracts’ instead.

Giving evidence to the House of Commons Transport Committee on Monday evening, he revealed that the new national body, or ‘guiding mind’, would be in charge of letting these contracts, with the Department for Transport only responsible in future for setting broad national railway strategy. He also said the new body would take revenue risk, but there was no such thing as a ‘one size fits all’ model for individual operating contracts.

He is in favour of the Transport for London model, and praised the large amount of innovation which TfL has achieved. He believes one of the new-style National Rail contracts could also include specific bonuses for innovation. He added: ‘TfL is still run like a network, so we need to take account of the national network as well. To some degree, TfL could form a model for the new guiding mind.’

He is also in favour of simplifying ticketing, which has been advocated by the Rail Delivery Group.

Although the terms of reference in his inquiry did not include a detailed scrutiny of industry costs, he commented: ‘The amount of fragmentation does increase the costs of rail. There are undoubtedly opportunities to take cut costs. I used to run British Airways, and the amount of rail fragmentation is much greater then it was in BA.’ He continued: ‘We can simplify the way the railway works. There does need to be a strong regulator, ensuring delivery.’

He said it could take between five and ten years to bring all his recommendations into effect, and also admitted that he does not know what an early election would do to the timing of his Review, which is due to be published as a White Paper this autumn.

 

[hkstudent]

Labour have a snowball in hells chance of winning the election, which means by default Johnson will sneak back in. With a mandate he will be free to wreak whatever havoc he likes on our railways (and nation). Hs2 will be gone, as will any hope of any genuine progress and improvement on the current system.
Only hope is people vote tactically to keep the Tories out and hope for some kind of lib dem Labour coalition but even that's a long shot I'd say.

To be honest, I doubt Lib Dem will be doing any coalition at the moment, given the "lesson" they have learnt in 2011.

 

[Meerkat]

Williams states that rail is more fragmented than BA??
When did BA stop leasing planes and buy airports and their own ATC system?