After our evidence session, on 20 May, the Department published its long-delayed Rail white paper, which outlines its “once-in-a-generation” reforms planned for the rail system, including replacing franchising and better integrating infrastructure with passenger services.25 The Department acknowledges that it must overcome a “complex and…deep-rooted set of issues” to improve the system, and that such a large reform programme will be fraught with risks.26 Despite this, the Department told us i...

After our evidence session, on 20 May, the Department published its long-delayed Rail white paper, which outlines its “once-in-a-generation” reforms planned for the rail system, including replacing franchising and better integrating infrastructure with passenger services.25 The Department acknowledges that it must overcome a “complex and…deep-rooted set of issues” to improve the system, and that such a large reform programme will be fraught with risks.26 Despite this, the Department told us it expects reforms to be complete within the lifetime of this Parliament.27 Our recent report Lessons from major projects and programmes is a stark remind Type: conclusion | Number: 11 | Response status: not_addressed