GbR. They definitely could have picked a better name, but it will do. I am excited for unified ticketing, but the franchise aspect should be gone. (I really hope the whole network is split into the sectors from the 90s, just formatted differently. *I’m not British so please correct me if I’m wrong
Nothing will change much, certainly not anytime soon. Train companies (except open access ones) will come under public control (of which at least six are anyway) as one, rather than several franchises.
Having worked in the UK rail industry for over 40 years (now retired) went through numerous organisational changes particularly privatisation and watched Railtrack morph into Network Rail. The reality is, most of the people stay in the same role with maybe a slightly different title. Nothing really changes except they will probably try and get away with worsening pay and conditions.
I approach this with the view that this will not fix the problems of the railway, but will make them cheaper, since the middlemen who make some profit are no longer there. We can all dream for something like East Coast, but I do like having the multiple colours of trains.
I'm all for it. Last two trips on the trans Pennine; standing room only.That was off-peak as well. Should imagine a couple of billion will be required for a station and rolling stock rebranding. With most rolling stock owned by the scalpers, that'll be a entertaining watch , when Starmer has to deal with them. Might be a while before there's any visible changes though.
