A01 passed 16 votes to 10. The amended bill is as follows:

A

BILL

TO

Bring railways and related entities under the ownership of Her Majesty’s Government.

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1) Definitions

1. “Stock” is defined as any type of rail vehicle, including locomotives, multiple units, coaches and goods wagons
2. “Franchise” refers to the rail franchises prior to the Railways Reform Act 2014

2) Repeals

1. Sections 1 - 4 and Sections 6 - 10 of the Rail Reform Act 2020 are hereby repealed

3) National Rail

1. National Rail is to be a statutory company solely owned by Her Majesty’s Government
2. National Rail shall be responsible for the operation of all rail services

a) This excludes Concessionary Operations, pursuant to section 11

b) This excludes Open Access Operators, pursuant to section 12

3) National Rail shall be divided into operational sectors responsible for operating specific services; these sectors shall be:

a) InterCity, responsible for long distance and mainline services (see section 5)

b) Regional Railways, responsible for services in England, primarily those running on 25kV AC overhead wires and diesel services (see section 6)

c) SouthEastern, responsible for services in London and South East England, primarily those running on 750V DC third rail and diesel services in the southeast region (see section 7)

d) ScotRail, responsible for services in Scotland (see section 8)

e) Transport for Wales, responsible for services in Wales (see section 9)

f) RailFreight, responsible for freight operations (see section 10)

4) National Rail shall be managed by the National Rail Board

a) The National Rail Board shall consist of a Chair, 5 Officers appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, the 4 Directors, 1 RMT Union Representative, 6 Sector Representatives and Concessionary Representatives

b) The members of the Board are defined as:

• Secretary of State for Transport (acting as Chair of the Board)
• Chief Executive Officer
• Chief Financial Officer
• Chief Operations Officer
• Chief Engineering Officer
• Director of Network Rail
• Director of the Office of Rail Regulation
• Director of British Rail Engineering Limited
• Director of the National Rail Ticketing Office
• A Representative of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers trade union (RMT)A Representative or joint representative of the union or group of unions representing a plurality of employees, adjusted by employment rate, of National Rail, its subsidiaries, Concessionary Operators (as per section 11 of this act) and Open Access Operators (as per section 12 of this act)
• Representative of the InterCity Sector
• Representative of the Regional Railways Sector
• Representative of the SouthEastern Sector
• Representative of the ScotRail Sector
• Representative of the Transport for Wales Sector
• Representative of the RailFreight Sector; and
• Concessionary Representatives

c) The responsibilities of the members of the Board are as such:

i) The Chair of the Board shall be responsible for chairing meetings of the Board

ii) The Chief Executive Officer shall be responsible for the day-to-day operations of National Rail

iii) The Chief Financial Officer shall be responsible for funding, marketing and related areas involving the financing of National Rail

iv) The Chief Operations Officer shall be responsible for overseeing the operation of services, the allocation of stock and related areas involving the day-to-day operation of rail services

v) The Chief Engineering Officer shall be responsible for liaising with Network Rail and reporting the operations of Network Rail to the Board

vi) The Directors shall be responsible for directly informing the Board of operations of their directory

vii) The RMT Union Representative shall be responsible for resolving disputes between the Board and the RMT union

viii) The Sector Representatives shall be responsible for raising issues from workers in their particular sector

ix) The Concessionary Representatives shall be responsible for raising issues from workers in their operator and liaising with local transport authorities

d) All votes held by the Board, at the approval of the Chair, shall require a simple majority to pass

e) If the Chair vetoes a vote, the Board may overrule the veto via a two-thirds majority

5) All rail stock shall be transferred from their current holders to National Rail, under the branch of National Rail Stock Holdings (NRSH)

6) National Rail shall manage TOPS (Total Operations Processing System)

7) National Rail shall manage TRUST (Train Running Under System TOPS)

8) National Rail shall be required to provide the option of reasonable compensation to passengers affected by service delays and cancellations

9) In the cases of temporary closures, severe delays and service cancellations, National Rail must provide and inform passengers of alternate transport options for passengers including alternate routes and replacement bus services

4) Network Rail

1. Network Rail shall be a statutory company solely owned by Her Majesty’s Government
2. Network Rail shall be responsible for the ownership and maintenance of all rail infrastructure, including stations, trackwork, power systems and depots
3. Network Rail shall be managed by a Director elected by Network Rail employees
4. Ownership of all stations, tracks, depots and related rail infrastructure shall be transferred to Network Rail
5. Network Rail shall be liable for any delays caused by overrunning engineering and maintenance works
6. Network Rail shall not be liable for delays caused by non-rail accidents on rail infrastructure or Acts of God

5) InterCity

1. InterCity (IC) shall be responsible for the following services:

a) West Coast Main Line, including but not limited to London Euston to Birmingham New Street, Glasgow Central, Manchester Piccadilly, Liverpool Lime Street, Preston, Edinburgh Waverley, Blackpool North and Holyhead

b) East Coast Main Line, including but not limited to London King’s Cross to Leeds, Lincoln, York, Edinburgh Waverley and Newark Northgate

c) Midland Main Line, including but not limited to London St Pancras International to Sheffield, Nottingham and Corby

d) Great Western Main Line, including but not limited to London Paddington to Cardiff Central, Swansea, Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth, Penzance, Oxford, Great Malvern, Bedwyn and Cheltenham Spa

e) Great Eastern Main Line, including London Liverpool Street to Norwich

f) Chiltern Main Line, including London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street, Birmingham Snow Hill and Oxford

g) Cross-Country Route, including but not limited to Plymouth to Edinburgh Waverley and/or Glasgow Central, Newcastle Central to Reading and/or Southampton Central, Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads and/or Exeter St Davids

h) Gatwick Express, including London Victoria to Gatwick Airport

i) Brighton Main Line, including London Victoria to Brighton

j) High Speed 1, including London St Pancras International to Ramsgate via Faversham, Dover Priory via Ashford International and Margate via Canterbury West

k) High Speed 2, upon service commencement

l) Caledonian Sleeper, including sleeper services from London Euston to Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, Fort William, Aberdeen and Inverness

m) TransPennine Express, including Liverpool Lime Street to Scarborough, Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central, Manchester Piccadilly to Hull and Huddersfield and Manchester Airport to Redcar Central, Newcastle Central, Cleethorpes and Glasgow Central and/or Edinburgh Waverley

n) Select other services including Liverpool Lime Street to Norwich

2) InterCity shall receive one representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the employees of InterCity

6) Regional Railways

1. Regional Railways (RR) shall be responsible for the following services:

a) Services of the East Midlands franchise, except those in Section 5

b) Services of the Great Western franchise, except those in Section 5

c) Services of the CrossCountry franchise, except those in Section 5

d) Services of the Regional sub-brand of the East Anglia franchise

e) Services of the West Midlands franchise

f) Services of the Northern franchise

2) Regional Railways shall receive one representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the employees of Regional Railways

**7) SouthEastern

1. SouthEastern (SE) shall be responsible for the following services:

a) Services of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise except those in Section 5

b) Services of the South Eastern franchise except those in Section 5

c) Services of the South Western franchise

d) Services of the East Anglia franchise except those in Section 5 and 6

e) Services of the Chiltern franchise except those in Section 5

f) Services of the Essex Thameside franchise

2) SouthEastern shall receive one representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the employees of SouthEastern

8) ScotRail

1. ScotRail (SR) shall be responsible for the following services:

a) Services of the ScotRail franchise

2) ScotRail may become a concessionary operation of the Scottish Government, pursuant to Section 11, should it be requested by the Scottish Government

3) ScotRail shall receive one representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the employees of ScotRail

9) Transport for Wales

1. Transport for Wales (TW) shall be responsible for the following services:

a) Services of the Wales & Borders franchise

2) Transport for Wales may become a concessionary operation of the Welsh Government Parliament, pursuant to Section 11, should it be requested by the Welsh Government Parliament

3) Transport for Wales shall receive one representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the employees of Transport for Wales

10) Railfreight

1. Railfreight (RF) shall be responsible for all freight operations
2. Railfreight shall be responsible for the safe and responsible transportation of the following:

a) Nuclear material

b) Explosives

c) Flammable liquids, gases and solids

d) Oxidising substances

e) Toxic substances

f) Infectious substances

g) Corrosive substances

h) Other substances which are dangerous to the public and/or the environment

3) Railfreight shall be responsible for delivering parcels and mail by rail

4) Railfreight shall receive one representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the employees of Railfreight

11) Concessionary Operators

1. Concessionary Operators shall operate under the control of a local transport authority, independent of the operating sectors of National Rail
2. Rolling stock and infrastructure under concessionary operation shall still be maintained by Network Rail, pursuant to Section 4
3. The following concessionary operators shall be permitted:

a) London Overground (LO) as a concession to Transport for London

b) Crossrail (XR) as a concession to Transport for London

c) Merseyrail (MR) as a concession to Merseytravel

4) The creation of new concessionary operations will require an amendment to Section 11 (3) of this act by Statutory Instrument

a) Pursuant to Section 11 (5), any new concessionary operators must also receive a representative on the National Rail Board, unless the transport authority the concession is awarded to already has a representative

5) Local transport authorities shall receive on representative on the National Rail Board, who shall be elected by the workers of their local transport authority

12) Open Access Operators

1. The following Open Access Operators (OAOs) shall be allowed to continue running:

a) Eurostar (EU)

b) Grand Central (GC)

c) Heathrow Express (HX)

d) Hull Trains (KT)

2) Extant OAOs shall be allowed to continue operating stock under lease from NRSH

3) OAOs shall be responsible for their own spending and must provide a yearly report to the ORR, pursuant to Section 13

3) Prospective OAOs will be required to submit an Open Access Agreement to National Rail which will be considered and approved by the National Rail Board

4) Prospective OAOs will be required to request a Leasing Contract from National Rail Stock Holdings specifying the trains they wish to lease under the TOPS system

5) Extant OAOs shall have their contracts expire on December 31st 2029 at which point they are required to go through the process as prescribed in this section

6) Prospective OAOs shall have their contract expire after 10 years at which point they are required to go through the process as prescribed in this section

13) Office of Rail Regulation

Section 5 of the Rail Reform Act 2020 shall now read as such:

1. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) shall be responsible for setting performance targets for the operational sectors, concessionary operators and OAOs
2. The ORR shall be responsible for reviewing the budgeting of the operational sectors, concessionary operators and OAOs
3. The ORR shall carry out annual reviews on the following:

a) Performance of National Rail operational sectors

b) Performance of concessionary operators

c) Performance of Open Access Operators

d) Performance of Network Rail

4) The Office of Rail Regulation shall be overseen by a Director elected by ORR employees

**14) British Rail Engineering Limited

1. British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) and its assets shall be transferred to the ownership of Network rail, pursuant to Section 4.
2. BREL shall be responsible for the engineering and construction of rolling stock that can be used by Network Rail
3. BREL shall be overseen by a Director elected by BREL employees

15) National Rail Ticketing Office

1. The National Rail Ticketing Office (NRTO) shall be responsible for setting fares for National Rail services
2. NRTO shall be responsible for overseeing timetabling and scheduling of services of the National Rail sectors, concessionary operators and OAOs
3. NRTO shall be overseen by a Director elected by NRTO employees
4. NRTO must not increase fares by more than 5% over a ten year period
5. NRTO shall be responsible for dealing with and paying out delay compensation requests in accordance with Section 3 (8)
6. Subsection 1b of section 5 of the Rail Delivery Act 2020 shall now read:

a) “Maintaining safe and punctual trains, in accordance with regulations set by the National Rail Ticketing Office”

16) Short title, commencement and extent

1. This act may be cited as the Railways Act 2021
2. This act may come into force on 1st February 2022 23rd January 2023
3. This act extends to England, Scotland and Wales

This bill was co-written by u/SomeBritishDude26 MP MSP MS on behalf of the Progressive Workers’ Party and Rt Hon Sir u/model-elleeit KBE CMG PC, Lord Fleetwood, Secretary of State for Transport on behalf of the 28th Government with assistance from Rt Hon u/Polteaghost PC, Baroness Handforth*

Vote on the above amended bill by 11th December 2021 at 10pm GMT.