University of Birmingham: Challenging issues facing UK rail industry in pandemic’s wake are not new

Britain’s rail industry has seen decades of technical advance, growing customer expectations, increased environmental challenges and need for more capacity but some working practices have not kept pace and have made it difficult for the industry to innovate effectively.

Since the pandemic, changes in work and travel patterns have accelerated dramatically. Taxpayer support for rail before the pandemic was running at around £6.5 billion a year and this was already becoming a major challenge. During the pandemic there has been emergency support of £16 billion and revenues are still around 20% down resulting in an ongoing funding gap of £ 2 billion.

Failure to change risks making much-needed investment unaffordable and could therefore push the industry into decline with deteriorating customer service and declining opportunity for rail staff. But if the industry is able to modernise then it can continue to make the case for taxpayer funding and offer sustainable improvements for customers while creating better prospects for staff. The need to decarbonise and level up our economy means these changes are more important than ever before.”
Paul Plummer, Professor of Railway Strategy – Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education
Failure to change risks making much-needed investment unaffordable and could therefore push the industry into decline with deteriorating customer service and declining opportunity for rail staff. But if the industry is able to modernise then it can continue to make the case for taxpayer funding and offer sustainable improvements for customers while creating better prospects for staff. The need to decarbonise and level up our economy means these changes are more important than ever before.

Change doesn’t just mean cutting costs – the industry also needs to adapt to attract new customers and grow revenues. To do that requires continued improvement in service levels making the railway easy to use for everyone – but those improvements need to be made more affordable through innovation and changes in working practices. And it’s not just about cutting jobs – staff need to be redeployed to more customer facing and higher skilled roles.

For example, operators need to be able to roster staff on Sundays instead of relying on overtime which means that they are sometimes short-staffed at precisely the wrong times. And Network Rail needs to be able to deploy flexible multi-disciplinary teams to deal with incidents so that reliability can be improved at lower cost.

Government has announced plans to reform the railway including the creation of a single ‘guiding mind’. These changes need to happen as soon as possible so that decision-making can be pushed closer to the customer and further from politicians.

Just a fortnight ago, the World Congress on Rail Research took place in Birmingham so researchers and rail workers from across the globe were here in the city to share their ideas. It’s clear that Britain is leading the way in many areas of research such as in remote condition-monitoring, operational simulation and alternative fuel technology. But it’s also clear that the industry needs to be able to innovate and use this technology more effectively if it is to create the successful and sustainable industry which customers, taxpayers and staff deserve.

The only way to avoid further strikes now is through talks to reach an agreement which creates a more sustainable future for the benefit of everyone.