Railways Bill Introduced: UK Government Moves to Establish Great British Railways
Contacts
Partner
UK
I am a partner in our Infrastructure, Projects and Procurement Group in London, advising clients at the intersection of government and business. I am recognised in the legal directories as a Leading Individual (Legal 500, 2025).
Associate
UK
I am an associate in Bird & Bird's projects team, supporting public and private sector clients with their procurements and major projects.
Related
Practices
Sectors
Regions
Countries
Offices
On 5 November 2025, the UK Government introduced the Railways Bill to Parliament. The Bill establishes Great British Railways (GBR) as a new public body responsible for both infrastructure and most passenger services in England. It also creates a new passenger watchdog, reforms access and charging, and strengthens the role of devolved leaders in rail planning.
The Bill has implications for a wide range of market participants, including ticketing platforms, rolling stock manufacturers and financiers, infrastructure and technology suppliers, and public bodies involved in rail operations and regulation. We’ll follow up shortly with a more detailed briefing exploring these impacts.
The news follows ORR’s recent approval of Virgin Trains’ bid to access the Temple Mills depot, paving the way for new international services through the Channel Tunnel, and Eurostar’s €2bn fleet refresh with Alstom (manufacturer) and SNCF Voyageurs (financier), supporting expanded services to Geneva and Frankfurt.
We will be sharing further developments in due course. Please get in contact with Andrew Dean (andrew.dean@twobirds.com) if you would like to find out more in the meantime.
