Association of British Commuters

Great British Railways

This week the Railways Bill, which will establish our new publicly-owned #GreatBritishRailways, enters Committee Stage🚆

The fight is now on to ensure the Bill creates a fully-integrated railway that is run in the public interest ✊

Read more👇
bringbackbritishrail.org/2026/01/railways-bill-committee

A warning to the Bill Committee: Competition law puts the future of our public railway under threat The Railways Bill enters its Committee Stage tomorrow – a line by line discussion lasting four weeks that is the first chance for MPs to table amendments, and the first major opportunity for …

NEW: The Railways Bill enters its Committee stage this week - the first major chance to influence the legislation.

The Committee must address the fundamental problem from the start - how competition law puts the future of our public railway under threat. abcommuters.com/2026/01/19/a...

Read the report - Passengers not profit: a vision for the Railways Bill | We Own It The government's upcoming Railways Bill should include these reforms if it is serious about delivering for passengers.

There's so much at stake with the new Railways Bill being introduced to the UK Parliament this autumn 🚆

Check out @weownit.org.uk's vision for how our new publicly-owned #GreatBritishRailways should be established 👇

Labour must ensure public ownership is the 'final destination' of rail reforms RAIL experts and campaign groups will launch a report today urging Labour to ensure that public ownership is the “final destination” of its rail reforms.The report, titled Passengers not Profit: A Vis...

3 out of 4 of us want a publicly owned railway. But how can we make sure it's a success?

We asked rail experts including @christianwolmar.bsky.social @abcommuters.bsky.social @bringbackbr.bsky.social @rmtunion.bsky.social

🚄👉https://weownit.org.uk/act-now/passengers-vision-for-the-railways-bill

Rail accessibility isn't working in its current form. Many of us have to plan far in advance for basic journeys that others don't give a second thought - around out-of-service lifts, inaccessible stations or to request assistance that still might not turn up when we need it. Change is needed!

Campaigners demand ‘Accessibility Framework’ for Great British Railways Disability rights campaigners and passenger groups have today sent an open letter to the Secretary of State, demanding an ‘Accessibility Framework for Great British Railways.’ The lette…

Our new publicly-owned #GreatBritishRailways must mark the beginning of a new era 🚆

We need a railway that is run in the public interest – one that is fully-accessible & affordable for everyone to use 🙌

Read @abcommuters.bsky.social's open letter to @heidialexander.bsky.social 👇

Campaigners demand ‘Accessibility Framework’ for Great British Railways Disability rights campaigners and passenger groups have today sent an open letter to the Secretary of State, demanding an ‘Accessibility Framework for Great British Railways.’ The lette…

We're proud to be supporting @abcommuters.bsky.social's ten demands for an accessible railway ✊

We need to see urgent action to deliver fully-accessible and affordable public transport networks that are easy for everyone to use 🚍🚇🚆

Read more here 👇

Many thanks for your support @inclusionlondon.bsky.social @dis-ppl-protest.bsky.social @transportforall.org.uk @getglasgowmoving.bsky.social @transportaction.bsky.social @weownit.org.uk @bringbackbr.bsky.social @tssa.bsky.social

Campaigners demand ‘Accessibility Framework’ for Great British Railways Disability rights campaigners and passenger groups have today sent an open letter to the Secretary of State, demanding an ‘Accessibility Framework for Great British Railways.’ The lette…

OPEN LETTER: Campaigners demand 'Accessibility Framework' for Great British Railways.

The letter presents the govt with ten urgent demands - putting access and equality back at the heart of rail reform. abcommuters.com/2025/08/11/c...

YouTube video by Riku Fryderyk Blurred Lines - A Journey To Public Ownership- Documentary

Fantastic new documentary on Great British Railways, asking why the government is so slow to come up with a proper plan.

Made by the talented young filmmaker @rikufryderyk.bsky.social feat Ellie Harrison from @bringbackbr.bsky.social and @christianwolmar.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_6U...

Open letter: stop First Group, Arriva and other private firms clinging on to our railway | We Own It Private firms like First Group and Arriva are fighting to cling on to our railway. The government must impose a moratorium on approval of new rail contracts with private firms.

Private 'open access' rail services are threatening billions of public money and the future of rail reform under Great British Railways.

The Transport Minister must urgently intervene and block any more approvals from the rail regulator, Office of Rail and Road weownit.org.uk/news/stop-pr...

Open letter: stop First Group, Arriva and other private firms clinging on to our railway | We Own It Private firms like First Group and Arriva are fighting to cling on to our railway. The government must impose a moratorium on approval of new rail contracts with private firms.

8 in 10 of us back full public ownership of rail. And the government is working on delivering it.

But @railandroad is still letting private firms in - disrespecting democracy.
@Heidi_Labour, impose a moratorium on new 'open-access' approvals.

vist.ly/3xwvq

Urgent Open Letter: Stop new private rail contracts now

📢 Read our letter to Heidi Alexander demanding urgent action to stop the ORR awarding new contracts to private companies 🚆💸

Allowing 'open access' operators to continue will completely undermine our new publicly-owned #GreatBritishRailways 👇

📩 weownit.org.uk/news/stop-private-firms-in-our-railway

Rail Accessibility: Dept for Transport in breach of UN Disability Convention Last week, the government responded to a damning Transport Committee report on disabled people’s access to transport, refusing to create a national action plan for full rail accessibility, and maki…

Rail Accessibility: Dept for Transport in breach of UN Disability Convention.

After betraying ALL accessibility commitments of Great British Railways, the Transport Minister has refused to create a national action plan for rail accessibility. abcommuters.com/2025/06/16/r...

Open Access Crisis: Great British Railways and East Coast Main Line under threat Private ‘open access’ train operators are creating a crisis for the entire railway – threatening billions of taxpayers’ money, as well as timetable planning and operational performance on the…

Allowing Open Access operators to run privatised rail services in competition with publicly-owned operators risks sabotaging the whole #GreatBritishRailways project 🚆

@heidialexander.bsky.social must stop the Office of Rail & Road granting more licences before it’s too late!

Open Access Crisis: Great British Railways and East Coast Main Line under threat Private ‘open access’ train operators are creating a crisis for the entire railway – threatening billions of taxpayers’ money, as well as timetable planning and operational performance on the…

Open Access Crisis: Great British Railways and East Coast Main Line under threat.

Network Rail warns of December timetable crisis, with billions of taxpayers' money under threat. But the rail regulator, ORR, is betraying the public and backing the private companies.
abcommuters.com/2025/06/08/o...

What's the point of a publicly-owned railway, if it's not run in the public interest?🚆

@abcommuters.bsky.social's new investigation shows private rail companies have been calling the shots in the development of #GreatBritishRailways 💸

@heidialexander.bsky.social must put the public interest first!

Great British Railways Under Threat from Private Companies: Part One New evidence reveals that Tory Task force Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) remained the main advisor to the Department for Transport on rail reform until March this year, giving exten…

Exposed: Great British Railways Under Threat from Private Companies, Part One

Tory task force GBRTT remained main policy advisor to the DfT until March this year, with evidence of corporate capture by private companies @bringbackbr.bsky.social abcommuters.com/2025/05/16/g...

Heard from @abcommuters.bsky.social tonight at the Get Glasgow Moving committee meeting. The work they are doing is so important, particularly in light of the proposed stealth de-regulation by Scotrail. Follow them and check their website for more details!

Ticket office cuts by three rail firms are just a test run for fresh round of reductions, campaigners warn Cuts to ticket office opening hours by three rail providers across England and Scotland are just a forerunner of further reductions to come across the country, which will have a significant impact …

Ticket office cuts by three rail firms are just a test run for fresh round of reductions, campaigners warn
buff.ly/QKIs7JG
@marisharay.bsky.social @abcommuters.bsky.social @cajardinemp.bsky.social @liberaldisability.bsky.social @scotlibdems.org.uk @joshuareynoldssl6.bsky.social

Dept for Transport drops main public interest duties from GBR, in major step back for accessibility and environment Last week, the Department for Transport (DfT) launched a consultation on the legislation for Great British Railways (GBR). It has since become clear that the DfT dropped GBR’s headline ‘public inte…

Why is Dept for Transport dropping main public interest duties from Great British Railways?

This is a major step back for accessibility and the environment.

Let’s support @abcommuters.bsky.social as they hold govt to account.
abcommuters.com/2025/02/24/d...

‘Ticket Office Cuts Round Two’ – UK and Scottish governments revive Tory plans Industry sources warn that ‘Ticket Office Cuts Round Two’ is about to begin – starting with Scotrail, and ongoing stealth cuts on Southeastern and Great Western Railway (GWR). Currently, ‘all indus…

EXCLUSIVE: 'Ticket Office Cuts Round Two' - UK and Scottish governments revive Tory plans.

The first three operators to be cut are Scotrail, Southeastern and GWR. If these plans succeed, stealth destaffing will spread across the country. @rmtunion.bsky.social abcommuters.com/2025/03/07/t...

New Campaign: Ministers must restore public interest duties to Great British Railways consultation The Association of British Commuters, Disabled People Against Cuts, National Pensioners Convention, and National Federation of the Blind of the UK have made their first challenge to the Secretary o…

New Campaign launches today, in coalition with Disabled People Against Cuts, National Pensioners Convention and National Federation of the Blind of the UK.

Ministers must restore public interest duties to the Great British Railway consultation - here's why 🔽
abcommuters.com/2025/02/28/n...

Absolutely right that GBR dropping public interest duties means much less protection from corporate capture.
Public ownership may have begun, but is not safe until its "foundational goals" are also fully in the public interest.
A great explanation of this point via @thecanaryuk.bsky.social

@heidialexander.bsky.social what on earth is going on?

This is really bad and you really MUST extend the consultation so it’s held for the full 12 weeks because this is a LOT to respond to & it seems like one hell of a stitch up to keep us #DisabledByTheRailway

Dept for Transport drops main public interest duties from GBR, in major step back for accessibility and environment Last week, the Department for Transport (DfT) launched a consultation on the legislation for Great British Railways (GBR). It has since become clear that the DfT dropped GBR’s headline ‘public inte…

NEW: Dept for Transport drops main public interest duties from Great British Railways, in major step back for equality and climate.

Transport Minister, Heidi Alexander, must reinstate GBR's original purpose to "maximise social and economic value" in all decisions.
abcommuters.com/2025/02/24/d...

Dept for Transport drops main public interest duties from GBR, in major step back for accessibility and environment Last week, the Department for Transport (DfT) launched a consultation on the legislation for Great British Railways (GBR). It has since become clear that the DfT dropped GBR’s headline ‘public inte…

🚆 We share @abcommuters.bsky.social's concerns that @heidialexander.bsky.social has dropped the public interest duty of our new publicly-owned #GreatBritishRailways in order to preserve a role for private companies 🤦

Read more here & look out for our consultation guide coming soon 👇

Anger after government appears to drop Tory plans to put accessibility at heart of new national rail body Labour appears to have dropped the Conservative government’s pledge to place accessibility right at the heart of the new national body that will run the railways. Concerns were raised by The Associ…

The Labour government appears to have dropped a Conservative pledge to place accessibility right at the heart of the new national body that will run Britain's railways.

But Emily Sullivan (née Yates), a disabled researcher in equality and human rights, and ABC’s co-founder, who first spotted that the accessibility duty had been omitted from the consultation document, said: “This is a huge step back from the long-standing commitment that GBR would have statutory duties on accessibility and the environment. “Both have been dropped, despite being well-acknowledged as the most urgent social justice issues in transport. “Even more worrying, the duties have been dropped in the context of extremely vague and confused proposals for regulation. “The idea that [the existing passenger watchdog] Transport Focus might produce and monitor the accessible travel policies, for example, is astounding. “What’s actually needed is much stronger regulation of accessibility – closer to the level of importance that safety is given by the railway, not absorbed into consumer rights and ‘passenger experience’ monitoring.

Sharing this again to particularly highlight the detail of expert Emily Sullivan's comments on what on earth Labour is choosing to do with the biggest opportunity for cultural change for railway accessibility for a generation.

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/anger-after-...

Anger after government appears to drop Tory plans to put accessibility at heart of new national rail body Labour appears to have dropped the Conservative government’s pledge to place accessibility right at the heart of the new national body that will run the railways. Concerns were raised by The Associ…

What's this - GBR dropping its main #accessibility *and* #climate duties?
ORR palming off responsibility for access to Transport Focus?
Rail Delivery Group hanging on 🤬
Consultation needs extending to 12 weeks *right now* !!
#DisabledByTheRailway

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/anger-after-...