On Trains & Buses

Reading about travel in Canada a while back raised hopes of managing without a car than similar research into its neighbour to the south. At nearly ten million square kilometres, Canada is the second-largest country in the world by total area, after Russia, and that scale is where the real challenges emerge. Population density thins out sharply west of Ontario, and the Prairie provinces and British Columbia contain enormous distances between communities that public transport is only beginning to bridge. Even so, a surprising range of bus, rail and ferry options exists, and piecing them together into a workable itinerary is a more realistic prospect than the country’s scale might initially suggest.

National Rail

VIA Rail is the national passenger operator and the starting point for any rail-based itinerary in Canada. Its Windsor–Quebec City Corridor is the workhorse of the network and the section where rail most readily competes with other modes, while the long-distance trains, including The Canadian to Vancouver and The Ocean to Halifax, open up journeys where the ride itself is a large part of the point. A fuller account of how the network divides, where it performs well and where freight priority introduces delay is covered in An Introduction to Canadian Train Travel for Independent Travellers. One practical note worth carrying into any planning: corridor services are currently subject to routine delays of between 15 and 45 minutes, and long-distance trains can run considerably later, so building generous margins into any onward connection is strongly advisable.

Looking further ahead, Alto is developing Canada’s first high-speed rail service, connecting Toronto and Quebec City over approximately 1,000 kilometres of dedicated, mainly electrified track at speeds of 300 km/h or more. The route serves Toronto, Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal, Laval, Trois-Rivières and Quebec City, with the Ottawa–Montreal section announced as the first phase in December 2025. No construction start date has been set, but the project represents the most significant potential change to the Ontario–Quebec travel picture since VIA Rail was established.

Ontario

Nowhere is the layering of transport more apparent than in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area. Arriving by air, the Union Pearson Express is a dedicated rail link covering the 23 kilometres between Toronto Pearson International Airport and Union Station in around 25 minutes, with departures every 15 minutes throughout the day. That same Union Station is where all seven GO Transit commuter rail lines converge, making it the natural hub for anyone continuing outward by regional train. GO Transit, operated by the provincial agency Metrolinx, runs those seven lines and 39 bus routes across 532 kilometres of track and a further 2,776 kilometres of bus network, carrying around 79 million passengers in 2025. The urban layer sits on top of this in the form of the Toronto Transit Commission, whose buses, trams and subway handled over 800 million passenger journeys in the same year, with Triplinx providing a single journey planning portal across both networks.

The outer municipalities each run their own transit systems, handling the local connections that GO Transit does not reach. Brampton Transit, MiWay in Mississauga, Oakville Transit, Burlington Transit, Milton Transit and York Region Transit collectively cover the suburban and lakeshore communities to the west and north of Toronto. Most of these places function as residential extensions of the city, though Burlington has its own waterfront and the Royal Botanical Gardens, Oakville has a well-regarded arts and restaurant scene along Lake Ontario, and Mississauga is where Toronto Pearson International Airport sits, making MiWay relevant for anyone staying outside the city centre and needing to reach the terminal independently of the Union Pearson Express.

Beyond the GTHA, municipal transit covers a wide arc of places that reward a visit in their own right. Grand River Transit serves the Kitchener-Waterloo area, home to two universities and the largest Oktoberfest celebration outside Germany. Hamilton, reached easily from Toronto by GO rail, has reinvented itself around arts and independent food culture, with HSR (Hamilton Street Railway) covering the city locally. Barrie Transit gives access to a city on Lake Simcoe that serves as the main gateway to Ontario’s cottage country. Guelph Transit, Peterborough Transit, Durham Region Transit and Orangeville Transit round out the commuter and smaller-city layer. At the southern end, Niagara Falls Transit and St. Catharines Transit Commission serve one of the most visited areas in Canada, where the falls draw millions of visitors a year and the Niagara Peninsula wine country offers a very different reason to linger.

For longer journeys across the province, Coach Canada and the separately operated Megabus connect Toronto with Ottawa, Montreal, Kingston and Niagara Falls. Where those corridors end, Ontario Northland takes over, with coaches reaching as far north as Hearst and the Polar Bear Express train providing the only link to Moosonee, a subarctic community with no road connection to the south. The planned Northlander rail service between Toronto and Timmins, covering 740 kilometres with 16 stops, will extend that reach further once it enters service. At the eastern end of the province, Ottawa sits on the VIA Rail Windsor–Quebec City corridor and receives GO Transit bus services from Toronto, with OC Transpo running the city’s own buses and light rail.

Quebec

Quebec’s transport divides between the dense commuter network that Exo operates around Montreal, with five rail lines and over 200 bus routes integrating with the Metro and the newer Réseau express métropolitain, and the long coach routes of Orléans Express that carry passengers between Quebec City, Rimouski, Rivière-du-Loup and points beyond. The two serve fundamentally different needs: Exo is a commuter and urban network built around Montreal’s geography, while Orléans Express is the intercity spine for the rest of the province, and understanding which applies to a given journey saves considerable time at the planning stage. Quebec City itself has no suburban rail, though it is well served by both Orléans Express coaches and VIA Rail corridor trains from Montreal. Within the city, Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) operates 182 bus routes covering the wider urban area, including stops at Jean-Lesage International Airport and both the city’s train and coach stations. The old town and most visitor destinations are compact enough to explore on foot, but the RTC is the practical option for reaching the suburbs or the airport, and a development plan running to 2028 is expanding frequency and peripheral coverage across the network.

Alberta and the Prairies

Population density drops noticeably once Ontario gives way to the Prairie provinces, and the coach network becomes correspondingly more important. The largest presence is now FlixBus, the German operator that acquired Greyhound Lines internationally from First Group in 2021 and entered Canada the following year, expanding steadily to cover Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well as cross-border US routes that also serve Vancouver. On the Alberta corridors between Calgary, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Red Arrow has operated since 1979 and built a reputation for punctuality and a level of comfort that sets it apart from standard coach travel, with reclining seats, complimentary snacks and Wi-Fi on all routes. Its sister service Ebus, under the same Keolis ownership but with a no-frills approach, extends into British Columbia and since October 2025 has run a through service linking Vancouver and Calgary via the mountain communities of Revelstoke, Golden, Lake Louise, Banff and Canmore. At the other end of the spectrum entirely, the Keewatin Railway Company operates a twice-weekly mixed service between The Pas and Pukatawagan in northern Manitoba, a First Nations-owned railway line where the train remains the only realistic link for communities with no road alternative.

For travellers flying into Calgary International Airport, the options divide between those heading into the city and those heading straight into the mountains. The most affordable city connection is Calgary Transit’s BRT Route 300, which runs from the terminals to downtown along Centre Street in around 55 minutes for a standard fare of CAD 3.80, a surcharge having been abolished in 2023. Once in the city, Calgary Transit’s CTrain light rail gives access to much of the urban area, with two lines covering 59.9 kilometres and 45 stations and annual ridership of around 93 million trips in 2025. For the mountains, Banff Airporter has run eleven daily departures to Canmore and Banff since 1997, and Airport Shuttle Express extends the reach further, covering Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper for those whose destination lies beyond the Banff Airporter’s range.

Once in the Bow Valley, Roam Transit connects Banff, Canmore and Lake Louise across 14 routes, seven of which run year-round. Annual ridership reached nearly two million in 2025 and is growing fast enough that the service is on course to hit three million well ahead of its 2030 target, with summer routes in Banff regularly running at capacity. Several hotels in Banff include free passes for guests on local routes, and those staying at campsites on Tunnel Mountain and Two Jack Lake are encouraged to leave their vehicles on site and ride into town without charge. For a national park where road congestion is a genuine constraint, Roam Transit has become a meaningful part of how both visitors and residents move around, and it makes car-free movement within the valley considerably more practical than the shuttle journey from Calgary alone might suggest.

Further north, Jasper Transit provides a municipal shuttle connecting the town with Whistlers and Wapiti campsite, Pyramid Lake Lodge, Jasper Park Lodge and Lake Annette. For Maligne Lake, which sits 44 kilometres south of Jasper town at the start of the Skyline Trail, Maligne Adventures runs both a return day-visitor shuttle from Jasper and a one-way hiker’s service between trailheads for those walking the Skyline Trail. Maligne Canyon, which lies on the same road, was closed through the 2025 to 2026 season due to damage from the 2024 Jasper Wildfire and its status should be confirmed before travel.

Edmonton is served by Edmonton Transit Service (ETS), which operates 181 bus routes alongside three LRT lines with 29 stations. Annual ridership exceeded 100 million in 2024, and the Valley Line West LRT extension was under construction in 2025, adding further coverage to the west of the city. Further east, Winnipeg Transit carries around 61 million passengers a year across 71 routes, with a substantially redesigned Primary Transit Network launched in June 2025 that reorganised services around a more frequent core and added connections to areas previously poorly served. Saskatoon Transit is more modest in scale but covers the main urban corridors of a city that sits on the South Saskatchewan River and is home to the University of Saskatchewan. A Link BRT system is planned to launch in 2028, which will significantly improve east-west and north-south connections across the city.

Alberta’s Passenger Rail Master Plan, completed in summer 2025 with government decisions on investment following in 2026, sets out a long-term vision for passenger rail across the province. The plan includes a high speed rail line between Calgary and Edmonton via Red Deer, rail connections from both cities to their international airports, and regional lines linking Calgary and Edmonton to the Rocky Mountain parks. A Crown corporation is proposed to develop the infrastructure and oversee operations, with the existing CTrain and Edmonton LRT systems forming the urban foundations on which the provincial network would build. The Calgary–Banff connection is the element most directly relevant to car-free mountain travel and, if delivered, would represent a qualitative change to what is currently possible on that corridor. Government decisions on the timeline and pace of investment are expected through 2026, so the plan remains at an early stage despite the ambition of its scope.

British Columbia

Cross the Rockies and the picture shifts to a pair of complementary networks. TransLink serves Metro Vancouver with bus, SkyTrain rapid transit, the SeaBus ferry across Burrard Inlet and the West Coast Express commuter rail service, with roughly one third of the region’s population using it each week. Its 2025 investment plan delivered the largest increase in bus service since 2018, adding frequency on 50 routes and launching 40 new or improved services. Beyond the metropolitan area, BC Transit covers the rest of the province from Victoria and Kelowna to Prince George and Whistler, and in many of those communities it is the only public transport available.

Arrivals into Vancouver International Airport are well served by public transport, beginning with the Canada Line SkyTrain, which runs directly from YVR to Waterfront Station in 26 minutes with trains every six to ten minutes. An airport surcharge applies on top of the standard zone fare, and as of January 2026 the N10 NightBus fills the overnight gap when the Canada Line is not running. For those heading to Whistler or Squamish, the choice is between YVR Skylynx, which departs from the terminal itself with up to fourteen daily coaches via Squamish and Creekside Village, and Epic Rides, which has operated from Burrard SkyTrain station in downtown Vancouver since 2012 and now carries over 200,000 passengers a year on the same corridor. The two complement each other rather than simply duplicate: Skylynx suits those arriving at the airport, while Epic Rides is the more practical choice for anyone already in the city. Skylynx also runs a Victoria service via Tsawwassen, connecting with the BC Ferries crossing to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island.

Atlantic Canada

Atlantic Canada requires a different kind of planning, one in which ferry crossings are not incidental but structurally necessary. The crossing that matters most is the Marine Atlantic service between North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Port aux Basques, Newfoundland and Labrador, which runs daily year-round and takes around six hours, with a seasonal extension to Argentia from June to September. Without it, the island of Newfoundland is unreachable by surface transport. On the island itself, Metrobus covers St. John’s and DRL provides inter-community coach services, while Maritime Bus handles connections across the Maritime provinces on the mainland. The Newfoundland & Labrador Local Transportation pages give a broader picture of what is available across the province as a whole.

Halifax is the largest city in Atlantic Canada and the natural base for exploring Nova Scotia. Halifax Transit runs around 65 bus routes alongside five ferry services linking Halifax and Dartmouth across the harbour, carrying around 30 million passengers a year. It is one of the more complete urban transit systems in the region, with routes reaching the airport and most visitor destinations within the municipality. New Brunswick’s three main cities each have their own bus networks: Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton all received federal funding in early 2025 to expand and modernise their fleets, though service frequencies in all three remain modest by larger-city standards and a car will open up considerably more of the province.

Travelling Car-Free Across Canada

Canada is large enough that the first and most important planning decision is not which services to use but how much ground to cover. Trying to see the country from coast to coast in a single trip is a different proposition from choosing one region, understanding its network thoroughly and moving through it at a realistic pace. The Corridor cities of Ontario and Quebec, the metropolitan areas of Vancouver and Calgary, and the Atlantic provinces each offer genuine car-free possibilities, but they are not easily combined into a single itinerary without either very long journey times or the kind of gaps in service that make connections unreliable. Picking one and doing it properly tends to produce a more satisfying trip than attempting to stitch together several regions under pressure of time.

Within a well-chosen scope, the network makes considerably more possible than Canada’s scale might initially suggest. Urban transit in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton is substantial, intercity coaches now cover most of the main corridors between them, and VIA Rail provides the long-distance spine where it operates. The places where the network genuinely thins out are the rural and northern areas beyond the reach of any of these systems, and knowing where those limits lie before departure is as useful as knowing what the services themselves can do.

A previous article on this site examined how Iarnród Éireann’s investment programme was enhancing the rail network across Ireland, covering work under way in Galway, Waterford, Limerick and Cork. Since that was published in April, a further wave of announcements has followed, adding new detail to some of the schemes already discussed and introducing several significant developments that were not yet in the public domain at that point. All of that is the subject-matter for what you find here.

Starting with County Meath, the Emerging Preferred Route for the Navan Railway has been published, and a public consultation has opened. In Cork, the second round of public consultation on the next phase of the commuter rail programme has launched, while two early stations at Blackpool and Dunkettle have moved into the planning process. Moving to Galway, Oranmore station’s main construction contract has been awarded, and Ceannt Station has reached a visible new milestone. Further west, work has started on a temporary station at Adare for the 2027 Ryder Cup, tied to the reinstatement of the Limerick to Foynes Freight Line. And at a cross-border level, the contract for a new Enterprise fleet between Dublin and Belfast has been formally signed.

The Navan Railway: A New Route Takes Shape

Emerging Preferred Route

The proposed return of rail to Navan is among the most consequential of the new announcements. Iarnród Éireann has published the Emerging Preferred Route for a new 34-kilometre electrified railway extending the existing line from M3 Parkway to Navan. The scheme would bring direct DART services to what is described as the largest town in Ireland not currently on the passenger rail network. New stations are proposed at Dunshaughlin, Kilmessan, Navan Central and Navan North, with the line terminating at Navan North.

The service pattern outlined is ambitious. Trains could run as often as every 15 minutes at peak times between Navan and Dublin Connolly, with an end-to-end journey time of approximately 60 minutes and capacity for up to 4,400 commuters each way per hour. Three park-and-ride sites are planned at Kilmessan, Dunshaughlin and Navan North, indicating the line is intended not only for the towns directly on its route but also for a wider commuter hinterland across County Meath.

Policy and Funding

The project is funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority and sits within the Greater Dublin Area Transport Strategy. It aligns with the National Development Plan Review 2025, the Climate Action Plan 2025 and the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, as well as the Meath County Development Plan. In practical terms, the railway is presented as a means of connecting growing communities to the wider public transport network and encouraging a shift away from private car use.

There is also a historical dimension to the project. The preferred route broadly follows the old railway alignment that was lifted from 30th March 1963 onwards, making use of the disused corridor where possible. One significant revision has been made, however: a change in alignment to better serve Dunshaughlin and its surrounding area, which emerged from the route selection process and reflects how commuting patterns and settlement growth now shape railway planning in a way that was not a consideration when the line was originally closed.

Public Consultation

Public consultation on the Navan Railway opened in May 2026 and will run until 17:00 on Friday 3rd July 2026. This is the first of two non-statutory consultations and presents the Emerging Preferred Option for the project design. Iarnród Éireann has stated that input from communities, residents, businesses and other stakeholders will inform the design before a Preferred Option is identified. Consultation events are being held in Navan, Dunshaughlin and Kilmessan, with an online webinar also available. Full details and a feedback form are at irishrail.ie/navan-line.

Cork: Phase 2 Consultation Opens and Two Stations Enter Planning

Background

The Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme was covered in some depth in the previous article, which examined Phase 1 in detail, including the new Kent Station through platform, the Glounthaune to Midleton twin-track project and the signalling and communications upgrade. Since then, the focus has shifted to Phase 2, which sets out the proposals for new stations, a new depot and full electrification of the Cork rail network.

Second Public Consultation

The second public consultation on the Preferred Option for Phase 2 of the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme has now opened, running from 15th May to 12th June 2026. This phase is intended to deliver the remaining infrastructure needed for trains to run up to every 10 minutes on each of Cork’s three commuter lines to Mallow, Midleton and Cobh. The consultation covers six additional stations at Blarney, Monard, Tivoli, Ballynoe, Carrigtwohill West and Water-Rock, as well as electrification works, overhead line equipment, substations, construction and maintenance compounds, access to the proposed depot at Ballyrichard More and interventions to existing structures. Station upgrades at Cobh and Mallow are included, alongside a strategic park-and-ride site at Blarney and a further park-and-ride at Dunkettle.

Once this consultation closes, the project team will analyse submissions and a non-statutory findings report will be produced. A Railway Order application will then be submitted to An Coimisiún Pleanála in late 2026, at which point a statutory consultation process will follow. Consultation events are taking place across the city and county, including at Kent Station, Cobh, Carrigtwohill, Blarney, Midleton and Mallow, with a webinar also available. Further information is at irishrail.ie/cacr.

Blackpool and Dunkettle Stations Enter Planning

Alongside the broader consultation, two of the eight proposed stations are being progressed more quickly. Iarnród Éireann has published its intention to lodge a planning application for Blackpool Station, with Dunkettle to follow within weeks. Both are being taken forward via separate Section 34 planning applications to Cork City Council and Cork County Council respectively, ahead of the wider Railway Order. They are being progressed on existing Iarnród Éireann land, which provides scope for earlier delivery, with construction expected to begin in 2027 and take up to two years, subject to planning approval and funding allocation.

The proposed Blackpool Station would be located near the historic station site, bounded by Dublin Hill Road and Redforge Road, with two platforms linked by a pedestrian footbridge incorporating stairs and accessible lifts. The station is intended to support regeneration in the Blackpool area and would initially be served by up to 10 trains daily, with scope for service increases once the wider programme is complete. Dunkettle, by contrast, is being positioned as a strategic park-and-ride station near the interchange of major roads including the M8 and N25, served by both the Cobh and Midleton lines. An initial 15-minute service is envisaged, with a 300-space park-and-ride facility planned and room for expansion if demand warrants it.

Galway: Main Works Begin at Oranmore and Ceannt Reaches a New Stage

Oranmore: From Enabling Works to Construction

The previous article explained the background to the Oranmore Station project: the Athenry to Galway line is currently single track with no opportunity for trains to pass each other in opposite directions, and the planned one-kilometre passing loop and second platform are designed to remove that constraint and double services to every 30 minutes in each direction. Enabling works have been completed, including the installation of a new pedestrian and cycle underpass in October 2025.

The main construction phase has now been awarded. The contract has gone to Triur Construction, with works expected to begin in May 2026 and to finish in late 2027. This phase will deliver the new 185-metre platform to the north of the existing one (accessed via the underpass), the 1-kilometre passing loop, a bridge deck replacement and associated station infrastructure including a lift, access ramp, stairs, shelters, help points, passenger information signs, lighting, CCTV and seating. From 18^th May 2026 to summer 2027, some station parking spaces will be affected during the works, though train services are expected to continue as normal throughout.

Ceannt Station: A Visible Milestone

Ceannt Station in Galway city was also covered in the previous article, which described the scale of its redevelopment: five platforms replacing two, a new southern entrance and façade, an upgraded train hall roof and accessibility improvements throughout. From the morning of Saturday 18^th April 2026, the southern side of the station became the main point of entry and exit for customers, with ticket validators entering operation there.

Adare and the Foynes Line: Freight, Events and a Temporary Station

The Ryder Cup Station

The Limerick to Foynes Freight Line reinstatement was mentioned briefly in the previous article, but it has since moved to the foreground with a related announcement. Work has begun on a temporary station at Adare to support the Ryder Cup, which takes place at Adare Manor in September 2027. The temporary facility will consist of a platform and external concourse, at a cost of approximately €3 million, and is expected to take six months to build. It is being delivered by Cara Plant Hire Limited and funded by the Department of Transport through the National Transport Authority.

Special Ryder Cup rail services are planned to run as a shuttle between Limerick Junction and Adare on the reinstated Foynes line, likely outside regular timetable hours and using existing rolling stock. Passengers from Dublin and Cork would change at Limerick Junction, with the service intended to move thousands of spectators to and from the event each day. That arrangement gives a temporary passenger use to infrastructure being reinstated primarily for freight, making effective use of work already under way for a different purpose.

The Foynes Freight Line

The €151.5 million Limerick to Foynes Freight Line project involves the reinstatement of 42 kilometres of track, the closure and upgrading of user-worked level crossings, the installation of signalling and telecoms systems, the full refurbishment of Foynes Station building and train shed roof, reconnection to the network at Limerick and the reinstatement of 13 public road level crossings with CCTV-monitored crossings. Track-laying was completed in 2025 and systems work is continuing, with the line due for commissioning in October 2026. Driver route training will follow, with freight services expected to begin in early 2027. The project forms part of Iarnród Éireann’s Rail Freight 2040 Strategy and its partnership with Shannon Foynes Port Company.

The New Enterprise Fleet: Contract Formally Signed

The Agreement

Perhaps the most headline-generating announcement of recent weeks has been the formal signing of the contract for a new Enterprise fleet. At Belfast’s Grand Central Station on 7th May 2026, ministers from both jurisdictions witnessed the agreement with Stadler for eight new intercity trains for the Dublin to Belfast service, jointly operated by Iarnród Éireann and Translink. The overall investment amounts to €698 million (£548 million), covering both the fleet and associated infrastructure. Funding comes jointly from the Northern Ireland Executive and Department for Infrastructure, the Government of Ireland’s Department of Transport and PEACEPLUS, which is contributing €165 million through the Special EU Programmes Body.

Stadler had been selected as preferred bidder in September 2025, but the award process was delayed when rival bidder CAF launched a legal challenge during the standstill period. The injunction was lifted by the High Court in Dublin on 26th November 2025, with the court noting the time-critical importance of securing EU funding contributions, and the contract signing followed in May 2026.

Train Specification

The new trains are due for delivery in late 2028 and are based on Stadler’s FLIRT platform, adapted specifically for the Enterprise route. Each train will have around 400 seats, with a strong emphasis on accessibility through step-free interiors and unaided boarding at every external door. Other features include digital passenger information, power sockets, USB charging, improved luggage and bike storage, an Enterprise Plus section and a dining and bar area. The trains are to be tri-mode, capable of operating on electric, diesel and battery power, allowing services to continue throughout the transition towards full electrification of the line.

Operational Aims

The new fleet is intended to support an express journey time of under two hours between Dublin and Belfast, together with up to 16 services per direction each day, a marked increase on current provision. The existing De Dietrich coaching stock, which has served the route since the late 1990’s, will be replaced in full. The emphasis throughout the announcement is on stronger cross-border connectivity, reduced emissions and a substantially improved passenger experience on one of Ireland’s most strategically important rail corridors.

A Sense of Continuing Momentum

These developments, read alongside the projects covered in the earlier article, point to a rail network being improved on several fronts simultaneously. Some schemes restore old connections in modern form, as in Navan. Some build dense and frequent suburban-style networks, as in Cork. Others remove bottlenecks to enable planned growth, as at Oranmore. Some respond to specific events, as at Adare, while others upgrade national and cross-border travel, as with the new Enterprise fleet.

What binds them is a shared policy language around capacity, accessibility, sustainability and integration. Yet each project has a local context too, whether that is commuter pressure in County Meath, road congestion in Cork, planned housing growth near Oranmore or freight access to Foynes Port. Public consultation remains a recurring feature of the larger schemes, indicating that many of these plans are still being shaped before reaching statutory approval stages and that communities along each route are being given an opportunity to contribute to their design.

Across Ireland, Iarnród Éireann’s current investment programme points to a railway being reshaped in practical, place-specific ways rather than through any single headline scheme. Supported by the National Transport Authority and linked to Project Ireland 2040, the wider programme spans trains, track, signalling, stations and customer facilities. It sits within the National Development Plan and is presented as part of a broader response to growing transport demand, climate targets and the need for better public transport links between communities.

At network level, the ambition is considerable. Iarnród Éireann says investment will include up to 790 new train carriages, with up to 600 of those planned to be electric or battery electric. Alongside fleet renewal, there is continued spending on track, signalling and level crossings to increase frequency and improve journey times, as well as on new stations and upgrades to existing ones, with accessibility and car parking among the stated priorities. Further investment is also planned beyond the schemes already in progress.

What becomes clear when looking across the current portfolio is that these projects vary widely in scale and purpose. Some are focused on unlocking extra train movements on existing lines, others on creating entirely new transport hubs, while some are designed to resolve long-standing operational constraints. Together, they show a rail system being adapted for a different kind of use, with more frequent suburban services in growing urban areas, better interchange between modes and infrastructure that is more resilient and more accessible than it was previously.

Galway: Two Projects, One Direction

Oranmore Station

In Galway, two separate, but related strands of work illustrate that approach. At Oranmore Station, Iarnród Éireann has planning permission from Galway County Council and Galway City Council for works intended to allow more trains to operate between Galway and Athenry. The present constraint is straightforward: the Athenry to Galway line is currently single track, with no opportunity for trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other. The planned intervention is equally direct, comprising a one kilometre section of double track at Oranmore Station and a new second platform measuring 185 metres.

That may sound like a modest change in engineering terms, but its operational effect is significant. Iarnród Éireann says the work will allow a doubling of train services calling at the station, bringing service levels to every 30 minutes in each direction. The project is part funded by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage through the Urban Development and Regeneration Fund and part funded by the National Transport Authority, linking local rail improvements to wider housing and planning policy.

The station itself is also set to change in a more visible way. The new platform will sit to the north of the current one and will be reached through a new underpass beneath the railway. That underpass is intended not only for station access but also to provide a dedicated cycle route to lands north of the line. Stairs, a lift and an access ramp are included so that both platforms are accessible, while shelters, help points, customer information signs, lighting, CCTV and seating are all part of the scheme.

The reasoning behind the project extends well beyond the timetable. Iarnród Éireann says the improved station will support the proposed 1,000-unit residential development identified in the Garraun Urban Framework Plan, making it possible for that growth to be compact and sustainable, with public transport readily accessible. The scheme is also described as creating the opportunity for a transport hub serving both the station and the wider Garraun development. In policy terms, it is presented as aligning with the Climate Action Plan, NIFTI, the National Development Plan, the Galway County Development Plan and the Galway Metropolitan Area Strategic Plan, while the hoped-for shift towards rail is expected to reduce noise, emissions and local air pollution.

Progress at Oranmore has moved beyond planning. Advance enabling works began in 2024 and included trackside signalling activity as well as the relocation and modification of telecoms and signalling cables, all intended to prepare for the underpass installation and later main works. The first major construction phase was completed in October 2025, when contractor P&D Lydon installed the new pedestrian and cycle underpass during a planned rail possession weekend on the 11th and 12th of October. The next stage will deliver the remaining elements, including the new platform, the 1 km passing loop, the lift, ramp and stairs and a bridge deck replacement. That contract was tendered in late 2025, with works planned to start in the first half of 2026 and the overall project due for completion by the end of 2027.

Ceannt Station Redevelopment

Galway’s other major rail investment is far larger in urban terms. The redevelopment of Ceannt Station began at the start of 2024 and is funded by the Department of Housing’s Urban Regeneration and Development Fund together with the National Transport Authority. The project is framed around Ceannt’s central location, with Iarnród Éireann describing it as perhaps the best-located railway and bus station among Ireland’s major cities. The aim is to turn it into an expanded and integrated transport hub at the heart of Galway.

Here, the emphasis is on interchange, urban access and future capacity. The redeveloped station is intended to support modal shift towards public and active travel, lower emissions and improved city retail facilities, while also integrating improved rail and bus infrastructure with compact land use development, particularly the proposed Augustine Hill development south of the station. Accessibility is a recurring theme, with mobility-impaired passengers said to be prioritised through features including a Changing Places facility, and the plans also seek to improve circulation inside the station and reduce pressure on Station Road footpaths.

As a physical project, Ceannt Station’s transformation is substantial. Platform numbers are to increase from two to five, allowing for significantly expanded rail services in the future. A new southern entrance and façade will add customer facilities, retail units and toilets, while the existing train hall is to receive a new roof intended to make circulation and platform areas brighter and more welcoming. Renovation of the northern elevation also forms part of the plan, with track, resignalling, drainage and other infrastructure works needed to support the enlarged station. BAM Ireland is carrying out the work for Iarnród Éireann, with substantial completion expected by mid-2026. Throughout the programme, rail and bus services are due to continue, with temporary walking route changes communicated to customers beforehand.

Waterford: A Station Embedded in Urban Renewal

If Galway shows how rail is being used to shape urban growth and improve interchange, Waterford North Quays demonstrates how a station project can be embedded in a much wider redevelopment area. Waterford City and County Council is progressing the North Quays Strategic Development Zone on the north bank of the River Suir in the city centre. The zone is planned as a mixed-use development supported by transport infrastructure, with a new transport hub and railway station approximately 1 km east of the existing Plunkett Station. This new hub will be linked into the city by a sustainable transport bridge.

For the railway, that means more than simply building a replacement station. The project requires remodelling and upgrading of existing track and signalling, while rock face stabilisation works have already taken place at the existing station. It also aims to deal with existing flooding issues that currently restrict railway operations in Waterford. The scope includes a bridge over the railway at the transport hub with the station ticket hall and concourse built into it, a footbridge at the western end of the new station, two vehicular bridges over the railway and two more over the disused New Ross railway line.

The relocation of Plunkett Station to a new site approximately 1 km to the east involves new railway platforms, access stairs and lifts, storage facilities, offices and toilets, as well as a ticket desk, public toilets, a retail unit and related ancillary facilities. Around the station, there will be realignment and provision of double track, signalling works to support the new layout and the removal or decommissioning of the existing level crossing into the North Quays. Spring 2026 has been identified as the proposed opening date, subject to completion of construction and commissioning of the new track and signalling system.

Limerick: A New Station for Moyross

In Limerick, the focus is on a new local station with a regenerative purpose. Iarnród Éireann plans to build Moyross Station on the existing Limerick to Galway line, in what is described as the civic heart of Moyross. The project is intended to improve public transport links for a growing population and to connect the area not only with Limerick city centre but also with Galway, Cork, Dublin and beyond. It also aims to serve nearby destinations including Thomond Park, the TUS Gaelic Grounds, the Technological University of the Shannon and other educational and civic facilities.

Moyross is notable for the way it is tied into other transport plans. The new station is intended to integrate with Limerick City and County Council’s proposed University Avenue scheme, with BusConnects Limerick and with the proposed Limerick CycleConnects network. It is identified as one of the rail-based measures in the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy 2040 and is also listed as an objective in the Limerick Development Plan 2022 to 2028. In that sense, the station is being advanced not as a stand-alone intervention but as part of a wider reshaping of movement through the city.

The emerging preferred option places the station to the rear of Corpus Christi Primary School and Moyross Community Enterprise Centre, with access adjacent to Corpus Christi Parish Church via Sarsfield Gardens and through Millennium Park. The proposed station would have a single platform on the southern side of the line, approximately 175 metres long and between 3 and 4.5 metres wide. Ticket vending machines, passenger information and public address systems and shelters are included, while the western entrance via Millennium Park would be open to pedestrians and provide a bike shelter area. The eastern entrance off Sarsfield Gardens would be for pedestrians only, and bicycle parking would be provided at both entrances.

The stated benefits are concrete and measurable. Approximate journey times are given as 11 minutes to Limerick Colbert, 15 minutes to Sixmilebridge, 32 minutes to Ennis and less than two hours to Galway. Iarnród Éireann also says that by 2043 almost 7,000 people will live within a 15-minute walk of the proposed station. Planning reached an important milestone in November 2025 when Limerick City and County Council issued a Decision to Grant Planning, and advance works were completed in December 2025. Procurement is expected to begin in spring 2026, funded by the National Transport Authority under the Department of Transport’s Pathfinder Programme.

Cork: The Largest Package of All

Cork, however, is where the broadest and most interconnected package of rail works is now under way. The Cork Area Commuter Rail programme forms a central part of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy 2040 and is described by Iarnród Éireann as the largest ever investment in Cork’s rail network. It covers the heavy rail network linking Mallow, Cork, Cobh and Midleton and aims to increase capacity and frequency while adding new stations and, in time, electrification.

The programme is being delivered in phases. Phase 1 includes the Kent Station through platform, twin tracking between Glounthaune and Midleton and a signalling and communications upgrade. Phase 2 turns to expansion, with proposals for eight new stations, upgrades to three existing stations, a new depot and full electrification of the Cork rail network. The longer-term goal is an electrified high-frequency rail system with services targeted every 10 minutes.

Phase 1

Phase 1 is the further advanced of the two, with construction already complete on one of its three elements. Each element addresses a distinct part of the same operational problem: removing the bottleneck at Kent Station, adding capacity on the Midleton line and upgrading the signalling infrastructure that underpins both.

Kent Station Through Platform

At Kent Station, new platforms 5b and 6 were designed to remove an operational bottleneck that had long constrained through running. Before the works, most services from Mallow, Midleton and Cobh terminated at Kent, requiring passengers to change if continuing their journey. The new through platforms allow commuter trains to run from Mallow through Kent and onward to Midleton or Cobh without terminating. Construction was completed in March 2025 and the platforms entered service in April 2025, with the official opening attended by Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Works included a 220-metre-long, 6 metre wide double-sided extension to Platform 5, track reconfiguration, retaining wall works and reinstatement of eastern access to the station subway from Platform 5.

Glounthaune to Midleton Twin Track

Further east, the Glounthaune to Midleton Twin Track project covers approximately 10 km from Cobh Junction to Midleton. Its main purpose is the installation of a second track along the full length of the line, together with sidings and turnaround facilities at Midleton, bridge and level crossing modifications, signalling alterations and associated civil works. The project is intended to support an increase from the current 30-minute service to as frequent as every 10 minutes in future, alongside the new through platform, signalling works and a new fleet. A Railway Order was granted by An Coimisiún Pleanála in November 2023, BAM Civil Ltd won the civil works contract worth €29.5 million and construction began in autumn 2024. Completion is expected in late 2026.

Signalling and Communications Upgrade

The signalling and communications upgrade is the less visible but equally necessary part of the same package. It involves new cabling and containment between Mallow and Cobh or Midleton, new signal poles and trackside signalling equipment, power supply points and equipment buildings. It also includes upgrading the Train Protection System in the Cork area to ETCS Level 1 to meet European railway standards. Alstom was awarded the design and build contract in June 2023 and construction started in January 2024, with the works scheduled to finish by the third quarter of 2026. Iarnród Éireann says these upgrades will make possible the future increase to 10-minute frequencies while improving reliability and allowing eventual central management through the new National Train Control Centre at Heuston Station when that becomes operational.

Phase 2: New Stations, New Depot

While Phase 1 continues through to completion, Phase 2 is still being shaped through public consultation. The scale of this second phase is particularly striking, with proposals for eight new stations: Blarney/Stoneview, Monard, Blackpool/Kilbarry, Tivoli, Dunkettle, Ballynoe, Carrigtwohill West and Water-Rock. Mallow, Midleton and Cobh are to be upgraded for accessibility and future capacity. Strategic Park and Ride sites are proposed at Blarney/Stoneview and Dunkettle, each expected to provide between 400 and 600 spaces, while local Park and Ride sites would provide up to 100 spaces. A new depot is also planned at Ballyrichard More, east of Carrigtwohill, to support maintenance and stabling of the future fleet.

The first of two non-statutory consultations on the Emerging Preferred Option took place from the 18th of June to the 23rd of July 2025. Feedback from that process is intended to inform further design development before a second consultation on the Preferred Option. Only after that will a Railway Order application be prepared, followed by the statutory consultation period run by An Coimisiún Pleanála.

The Level Crossings Project

Also on the Cork to Dublin main line, a significant planning milestone was passed in July 2024 for a related scheme. The Cork Line Level Crossings Project is concerned with seven manned public road level crossings between Limerick Junction and Mallow, all within a 24 km section spanning Counties Cork and Limerick. The crossings are at Fantstown, Thomastown, Ballyhay, Newtown, Ballycoskery, Shinanagh and Buttevant. Iarnród Éireann says the objective is to identify the best approach to removing or upgrading them in order to improve safety for nearby residents and support a more efficient rail service. A Railway Order was lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála, an oral hearing took place in September 2022 and approval was granted in July 2024 after a process lasting over 37 months.

The Broader Picture of Rail Investment in Ireland

Taken together, these schemes show how rail investment in Ireland is being pursued through many linked interventions rather than one simple expansion. Some projects address capacity on single-line sections, others rebuild city stations as transport hubs and others still modernise the systems that sit behind daily operations. What unites them is a recurring set of themes: higher frequencies, better interchange, improved accessibility, support for housing and urban development and a stated move towards lower-emission travel. The exact pace of delivery will continue to depend on procurement, planning and construction, but the direction of travel is already clear.

Inspired by Switzerland’s world-renowned rural public transport system, Mini Switzerland is a national demonstrator project aimed at transforming how people travel in rural Britain, using Derbyshire’s Hope Valley as its real-world testing ground. The project, developed by Hope Valley Climate Action with funding from the Foundation for Integrated Transport, proposes building a fully integrated network of buses and trains operating to a regular clock-face timetable, with services running at the same times each hour, every hour, from early morning until late at night, seven days a week. Buses would connect seamlessly with trains at key interchange hubs at Bamford, Hope and Edale stations, ticketing would be simplified into a single unified product valid across all operators and modes, and every village along the corridor would be served at least hourly.

The Hope Valley is considered an ideal location because it already has an hourly rail service linking Sheffield and Manchester, a mix of villages, schools, workplaces and visitor attractions, and millions of annual visitors to the Peak District National Park, nearly all of whom currently arrive by car. Around one in three households in both Sheffield and Manchester has no access to a car, meaning large parts of the National Park are effectively unreachable for a significant proportion of the urban population.

The project requires modest capital investment of around one million pounds in infrastructure improvements such as hub upgrades, bus stop enhancements and signage, alongside estimated annual operating costs of around four million pounds in its first full year, falling as ridership grows. Crucially, the demonstrator is designed to generate structured, measurable evidence on passenger behaviour, operational reliability, ticketing uptake and demand growth over a five-year period, providing a practical model that rural authorities, National Parks and combined authorities across Britain can study, adapt and replicate.

The creation of Great British Railways represents the most fundamental restructuring of Britain’s railway since privatisation in the 1990s. GBR is intended to unify functions that have been split across organisations since privatisation, bringing together infrastructure, timetable planning and fares alongside the contracted passenger railway. Where DfT Operator Ltd exists as a temporary holding structure for nationalised operators, Great British Railways is designed to be permanent, absorbing Network Rail, DfT Operator Ltd and key functions from the Department for Transport into a single public body responsible for running Britain’s railway.

The establishment of GBR has been a long time coming. Plans were first announced in 2021 under the previous Conservative government, following the Williams-Shapps Review which called for radical reform of the fragmented railway system. However, progress stalled, and by 2024 little had been achieved beyond the creation of a shadow organisation. The election of the Labour government in July 2024 gave the project renewed momentum, with the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 receiving Royal Assent in November and a Railways Bill introduced to Parliament in November 2025. This legislation, once it becomes law, will formally establish Great British Railways and set out its powers and responsibilities.

GBR is expected to be fully operational during the 2027 to 2028 period, depending on the timing of legislation and implementation. The government has promised to base the organisation outside London to promote economic growth and skills in a region outside the capital. In February 2022, the Department for Transport launched a public consultation for the location of GBR’s headquarters, though a final decision has not yet been announced. Laura Shoaf chairs the shadow Great British Railways, preparing for the organisation’s formal establishment.

The GBR Model: Reunifying Track and Train

At the heart of the GBR model is the reunification of track and train. Since privatisation, the railway has been split between infrastructure management (Network Rail) and passenger operations (train operating companies), with coordination handled through contracts, access agreements and regulatory oversight. This separation has been widely criticised for creating fragmentation, misaligned incentives and operational inefficiencies. Delays caused by infrastructure problems become the train operator’s responsibility for compensation purposes, even though the operator has no control over the track. Timetable planning requires coordination between multiple organisations with different commercial interests. Investment decisions on infrastructure and rolling stock are often made separately, leading to mismatches and missed opportunities.

GBR is designed to solve these problems by bringing track and train under unified management. It will absorb Network Rail’s functions, becoming the infrastructure owner and manager for most of Great Britain. This means GBR will own and maintain the track, signalling, stations and other fixed assets, employing the engineers, signallers and infrastructure staff who keep the physical railway running. At the same time, GBR will absorb the train operating companies currently held by DfT Operator Ltd, bringing passenger services under the same organisational roof. Staff who currently work for LNER, Northern, South Western Railway and the rest will become GBR employees, operating trains under what is expected to be a unified brand.

This unified structure is intended to create a single point of accountability. When a train is delayed, GBR will be responsible for both the infrastructure that caused the delay and the service affected by it. When timetables are planned or investment is considered, the same organisation will make decisions about track capacity and train operations, infrastructure and rolling stock together rather than in isolation. The ambition is to create what the government calls a “directing mind” for the railway, an organisation with the authority and capability to manage the system as a coherent whole.

Timetabling, fares and ticketing will also be brought under GBR’s control. Currently, timetable planning involves negotiations between train operators, Network Rail and the Department for Transport, with the Rail Delivery Group coordinating industry-wide ticketing and some commercial activities. Under GBR, timetabling will become an internal planning exercise rather than a negotiation between separate organisations, potentially allowing for more efficient use of capacity and better integration between services. Fares policy and ticketing systems will also be managed centrally, with the potential for simpler fare structures and more integrated ticketing, though this will depend on political decisions about pricing and subsidy.

The Rail Delivery Group, which has coordinated some industry-wide functions under the current fragmented model, will be absorbed into GBR, along with relevant parts of the Department for Transport that currently manage contracts with train operators. This consolidation is intended to reduce duplication and streamline decision-making, concentrating railway management expertise within a single organisation rather than spreading it across multiple bodies.

Devolution Within GBR

While GBR is intended to be a Great Britain-wide organisation, devolution means that Scotland and Wales will have different relationships with it than England. Infrastructure ownership and strategic control do not map neatly onto each other, and the model for GBR has been designed to accommodate the constitutional realities of devolution while maintaining a single infrastructure owner.

In Scotland, the likely model under GBR mirrors the current arrangement with Network Rail. Infrastructure will be legally owned by GBR, but strategic control will remain devolved. Scottish Ministers, working through Transport Scotland, will specify funding, investment priorities and performance requirements, and GBR Scotland will function as a distinct business unit shaped by those requirements. This maintains the substance of devolution while avoiding the complexity and cost of splitting infrastructure ownership along the England-Scotland border.

The practical effect is that GBR Scotland will operate day-to-day infrastructure management under strategic direction from the Scottish Government, while train services in Scotland will continue to be run by ScotRail, which is owned by the Scottish Government and will not be absorbed into GBR. Caledonian Sleeper, also owned by the Scottish Government, will similarly remain separate. GBR’s role in Scotland will therefore be limited to infrastructure, with passenger services remaining under Scottish control. Coordination between GBR and the Scottish Government will be necessary for cross-border services and for managing the interface between infrastructure and operations, but the expectation is that this will be handled through established mechanisms rather than requiring major institutional innovation.

In Wales, infrastructure devolution has been more limited. Most rail infrastructure in Wales is owned and managed by Network Rail, with control largely retained by the UK Department for Transport. Welsh Government’s main lever is over train services through Transport for Wales Rail, which has been in public ownership since February 2021 and will not be absorbed into GBR. Under the GBR model, most infrastructure in Wales would be expected to be owned and operated by GBR, while Welsh Government continues to control Transport for Wales Rail services.

A notable exception is the Core Valleys Lines around Cardiff, which were transferred fully to Welsh Government ownership in 2020, creating a pocket of infrastructure that sits outside the main Network Rail ownership model. These lines are expected to remain under Welsh Government ownership under GBR, meaning there will be a small part of the Welsh rail network where both infrastructure and services are devolved. For the rest of Wales, GBR would own and operate infrastructure while Welsh Government controls train services, requiring coordination between the two organisations for timetabling, investment and operational matters.

England is the most straightforward case. GBR is expected to bring together infrastructure and most passenger operations along with timetable and ticketing responsibilities, creating a fully integrated model where track and train are managed by the same organisation. There are no devolution considerations in England, and the expectation is that GBR will exercise direct control over both infrastructure and operations, subject to funding and policy direction from the UK government.

What Stays Outside GBR

Not every part of Britain’s railway will be absorbed into Great British Railways. Open access passenger operators and the freight sector are expected to remain in private ownership, operating as commercial businesses on GBR-managed infrastructure.

Open access passenger operators such as Lumo, Hull Trains and Grand Central operate outside the contracted system entirely. They are private companies that run services on the national network without government contracts and without operating subsidy, taking commercial risk and relying on ticket revenue. Lumo, owned by FirstGroup, began running low-cost services between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh in 2021, offering a budget alternative to LNER’s contracted services on the same route. Hull Trains, also owned by FirstGroup, has operated between London King’s Cross and Hull since 2000. Grand Central, owned by Arriva Group, has run services since 2007, linking London with Sunderland and Bradford.

These operators pay track access charges to use the network and fit into the timetable through an approvals process that considers capacity, performance impacts and the effect on publicly funded services. Under GBR, the expectation is that they will continue to exist as private businesses, with GBR acting as the infrastructure owner and timetable coordinator. The Office of Rail and Road will remain central to regulating access and preventing unfair discrimination, ensuring that GBR as infrastructure manager does not favour its own train services over open access operators or create barriers to market entry.

The government has indicated that open access operators will continue to have a role where they “add value and capacity to the network”, suggesting that the policy is to maintain competition on routes where it can operate without undermining publicly funded services. The regulatory framework will be crucial here, as GBR will be both the infrastructure manager and the dominant passenger operator, creating potential conflicts of interest that the ORR will need to manage.

Freight sits even more clearly outside the passenger ownership debate. Britain’s rail freight sector has been fully privatised since the 1990s and is expected to remain so under GBR. Freight operators pay access charges to use the network and continue to run commercially, carrying goods ranging from intermodal containers and aggregates to automotive parts and specialist loads. The main companies include DB Cargo UK, owned by Deutsche Bahn, Freightliner owned by Brookfield Asset Management, GB Railfreight owned by Infracapital and Colas Rail UK owned by the Colas Group. Direct Rail Services is a notable exception in ownership terms, being owned by the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, but it remains separate from GBR and operates specialist traffic including nuclear material as well as other freight and support services.

Under a GBR model, freight operators will continue to run trains while GBR manages the infrastructure, allocates capacity and coordinates timetables. The government has indicated that GBR will have a statutory duty to promote rail freight, including a rail freight growth target, recognising the sector’s importance for decarbonisation and for moving goods efficiently. This is intended to ensure that freight is not squeezed out as GBR prioritises its own passenger services, though the practical balance between passenger and freight access will depend on capacity constraints, operational priorities and regulatory oversight.

Rolling stock ownership is another area that will remain outside GBR. The trains themselves are owned by rolling stock leasing companies (ROSCO’s), private firms that purchase trains and lease them to operators. This arrangement has continued throughout privatisation and is expected to continue under GBR. The government has indicated that nationalising the ROSCO’s would be prohibitively expensive, and that leasing provides flexibility for operators to adjust their fleets as demand changes. GBR will therefore lease trains from ROSCO’s rather than owning them outright, maintaining a significant role for private capital in the railway even as passenger operations and infrastructure are brought into public ownership.

Managing a Mixed Railway

The challenge for GBR will be managing a railway where infrastructure and most passenger services are publicly owned, but where private operators continue to run some passenger services and all freight. This requires a framework for allocating track capacity, planning timetables and resolving disputes that balance public service obligations with the access rights of commercial operators.

Track access rights are the foundation of this framework. Contracted passenger services operated by GBR will form the core of the timetable because they are tied to public service obligations and detailed specifications about frequency, calling patterns and service quality. These services are the reason the infrastructure exists in its current form, and they carry the vast majority of passengers. Freight operators also have firm access rights reflecting their economic role and their importance for decarbonisation, though their paths are often planned around peak passenger periods where possible due to the operational constraints created by slower trains with different performance characteristics.

Open access passenger services have access rights too, but these are more conditional and must be approved with regard to network capacity and impacts on public service operations. The approvals process considers whether an open access service would abstract revenue from publicly funded services (the “not primarily abstractive” test) and whether it would cause operational problems or require infrastructure investment that would not be justified by the benefits. This means open access operators face higher barriers to entry than they would in a fully commercial market, but the principle remains that access should be available where it does not undermine public service or create unmanageable operational problems.

Timetable construction under GBR will typically proceed in layers, beginning with infrastructure constraints and engineering access (the times when the track needs to be closed for maintenance or renewal), then building core passenger service patterns, then integrating freight paths and finally fitting open access services where capacity allows. This hierarchy reflects policy priorities, with publicly funded passenger services and infrastructure maintenance taking precedence, followed by freight (which has statutory protection) and then commercial passenger services.

Disputes over access are shaped by contractual rights and regulatory oversight, with the Office of Rail and Road providing a safeguard to ensure decisions are not arbitrary and that competition and freight needs are protected even where the infrastructure manager is closely linked to the dominant passenger operator. The ORR has powers to investigate complaints, require changes to access arrangements and impose penalties for anticompetitive behaviour. This regulatory backstop is crucial for maintaining confidence in the system, particularly for freight operators and open access passenger operators who will be dealing with an infrastructure manager that is also their competitor.

The ORR will also have broader responsibilities under GBR, including setting the framework for infrastructure funding through five-year control periods (similar to the current model with Network Rail), monitoring performance and efficiency, and ensuring that investment decisions are justified and well-managed. This provides a degree of independent oversight over GBR’s infrastructure activities, reducing the risk that political pressures or operational short-termism lead to underinvestment or poor decision-making.

Integration and Permanence

Great British Railways represents a fundamental shift in how Britain’s railway is organised. Where privatisation created fragmentation and DfT Operator Ltd has provided a temporary holding structure for nationalised operators, GBR is designed to be a permanent, integrated organisation responsible for both infrastructure and passenger operations. The ambition is to create a railway that works as a coherent system rather than a collection of separate businesses, with unified planning, clear accountability and the ability to make long-term decisions about investment and service development.

The success of GBR will depend on how effectively it manages the tensions inherent in its structure. It must balance public service obligations with commercial efficiency, accommodate devolution while maintaining a unified infrastructure, and provide access for private operators while prioritising publicly funded services. It must deliver better performance and value for money than the current fragmented system, while avoiding the pitfalls that led to the decline of British Rail before privatisation.

The result will be a railway that may look familiar to passengers in many respects, with trains running on the same routes and serving the same stations, but with a fundamentally different organisational structure behind the scenes. Track and train will be managed by the same organisation for the first time in three decades, with the potential for better integration, clearer accountability and more coherent long-term planning. At the same time, devolved operators in Scotland and Wales will remain outside GBR’s passenger operations, and privately run open access and freight operators will continue to operate on the network, creating a mixed model that reflects both the political realities of devolution and the practical need to maintain competitive access for non-GBR operators.

Whether this model delivers the improvements promised by its advocates will become clear over the coming years as GBR takes shape and begins to reshape Britain’s railway.