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Seizing the moment Rail leaders must balance honesty with real intent and an accelerated pace of change when responding to the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail and DfT’s Decarbonisation plan, says Edward Morley of PA Consulting
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he Williams-Shapps ‘Plan for Rail’ sets out a new operating model for Great Britain, and is a positive message for a growing, inclusive, greener public transport for the next generation. It is now matched by the intent of the DfT plan to decarbonise the entire transport system in the UK. The industry was already changing towards it, but then Covid-19 happened. It disrupted usage, obliged government support and created uncertainty about the future. Now the industry must transform and broaden integration not just to achieve the ambitions of the plan, but to find a new normal. With these challenges laid bare, the industry must take the sustainability pledge seriously. But it must also align to the other two parts of a triple lock, so in total – Sustainable, Social and Affordable. The rail industry must quickly make a step change transformation to go further and faster to bring these commitments to life, and in doing so embrace new levels of industry co-operation. Customers are increasingly conscious in their buying practices of committing purchasing decisions to this triple lock, and the railway must make decisions with this in mind. The level of change requires honesty of thought and clarity of voice Truly embracing the end of fossil fuels to drive sustainable and costefficient travel is a daunting proposition. As zero-emission vehicles dominate the forward landscape, freight and passenger rail must make its own positive contribution to environmentally friendly transport, to meet the ambition to remove diesel from the network by 2040, establishing a route to fully net zero by 2050. The industry must fully embrace and accelerate its own traction decarbonisation network strategy. Historical uncertainty about options and funding have been largely removed, so it is now essential the industry creates consistent trust and belief in this strategy so that the wider supply chain invests, embraces, and innovates towards change. This requires creativity and clear narrative to drive home the case for change. The whole industry and its wider government stakeholders must hold firm to a shared vision and message. By doing so, the rail freight growth and early take up of low carbon traction for rail freight can be truly realised. Integrating transport is an inevitability that must be embraced to support sustainability By helping to shape the future, rather than just to build infrastructure, the rail industry must continue boldly seeking to be part of an integrated transport system. This is the only way that social and affordable parts of the triple lock are achieved. The inevitable truth remains – not every door-to-door journey can, or ever will be, on a train. Rail must continue to have a significant role in mass transit of goods and people. It must extol its strengths (as mass transit) and manage its weakness (that it is governed by a timetable). It needs new capabilities in asset management thinking and more dynamic delivery to make this happen. The industry must make the most of the strengths and digitise the network to reduce the weakness. Manging a dynamic timetable will enable more open access opportunities (as well as smarter maintenance and renewals). Thinking more widely and inclusively, the rail industry can be
at the forefront of better integration with the wider transport infrastructure to maximise the opportunities; the extra capacity created will support the significant shifts from road and air to rail. Innovation must be accelerated and expanded The rail industry must find ways to successfully bring innovation to market. Right now, the challenges of Covid-19, lifestyle choices and travel behaviours are happening concurrently with extraordinary innovation in technology. The shift to digitise the railway over the last two decades has been significant, but the next two decades will see even more significant transformation. Wise investments are essential. The industry must openly explore many ideas and then systematically refine its innovation portfolio to the vital few that will create both social and affordable value. There is a common perception that the rail industry finds it difficult to innovate. However, the tension between the extraordinary pace of technological change and adoption to the railway has more to do with a need to purposefully enable early innovative thinking and to embrace the share of failures within the development process that follow. In the last few years, the purposeful approach to R&D funding and resourcing across the industry has begun to pay dividends. Where innovation success is ultimately dependent upon its value creation, the industry must Rail Professional
