Public transport statistics to be ‘plastered on walls’ of Government department

Train and bus performance statistics will be “plastered on the walls” of Department for Transport (DfT) offices, a Cabinet minister has said.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh told MPs she wants to ensure everyone at her department is “taking responsibility” for the experience of passengers.

She said she does not want the DfT to “rest on our laurels” while legislation for major public transport reforms is being developed.

Giving evidence to the Commons’ Transport Select Committee, Ms Haigh said: “This has been the biggest challenge I have tried to bring to the department, that we are all responsible for the real-world outcomes, not simply outputs.

“I keep on joking that I want – well, I’m not joking, actually, I’m being deadly serious – the performance stats and our outcomes plastered on the walls of the department, so that we are all taking responsibility for the actual experience of passengers, both on rail and bus, in the real world.”

Ms Haigh told the committee the Government hopes legislation for the creation of Great British Railways (GBR) – a new public sector body to hold responsibility for rail infrastructure and train operation – will be introduced in summer 2025, with GBR becoming operational by the end of 2026 “at the earliest”.

The nationalisation of all franchised passenger train services when existing contracts expire will be completed by October 2027, she said.

Ms Haigh said officials are “substantially reforming and expanding the capability” of DfT OLR Holdings Limited (Dohl), the public sector body that acts as the owning group for operators when services are nationalised.

She said: “(Dohl) is doubling its capacity by January and then doubling it again by next December to ensure that it has sufficient people and expertise to manage the number of private operators that are coming in.

“The department has an entirely new directorate that oversees the public ownership transfer and a new director, and we’ve significantly reformed the way that we oversee that.”