Great British Railways

The Railways Bill and Metroisation

“A Bill to make provision about railways and railway services; and for connected purposes.”

In the current bill GBR must:

“have regard to the transport plans and strategies of devolved governments and Mayor‑led combined authorities (MSAs)”, meaning local transport priorities must inform GBR’s decisions
consult devolved governments and MSAs before making decisions that would significantly affect local areas
share information necessary for exercising their functions, and can enter voluntary arrangements to coordinate rail decisions at the local level

Great British Railways & Metroisation

The Railways Bill should require Great British Railways (GBR) to plan and deliver local/metro rail in partnership with planning authorities, Mayors and housing delivery bodies—embedding a place‑based, spatial approach and using common national digital tools. Metroisation means corridor‑scale, turn‑up‑and‑go services (≈15 minutes or better), integrated fares, reliable interchanges and walkable ~1 km station catchments.

Plan rail and development together at the corridor and place‑cluster scale

Use Town Growth Zones (via SIZs) around existing stations and New Green Towns (via MDCs) for new stations

Pool land‑value uplift (LVU) to fund capital upgrades and grow farebox to support operating costs

Publish corridor‑level metrics for mode share (<10 km), emissions and accessibility

The policy direction is clear

Require GBR to co‑author Corridor Metroisation Plans with Mayors and local planning authorities, using place‑based business cases and national spatial tools. This gives effect to the UK Infrastructure Strategy’s commitment to spatially coordinated investment

Why local/metro rail? Because most trips are short

70% of trips in England are under 5 miles. This is where Metroisation can shift car trips by combining high frequency, seamless interchanges and genuinely walkable station areas planned at the corridor scale.

Turn‑up‑and‑go frequencies.

Seamless interchanges and clear wayfinding.

Multi‑town, multi‑station corridor planning—not isolated nodes.

Decarbonisation & air quality

Rail already has low emissions per passenger‑km. Metroisation improves this further through load‑factor gains and electrification. The Bill should mandate annual corridor‑level reporting using DESNZ factors and DfT methodology.

Delivery & funding: corridor‑scale, station‑centred growth

ConnectedCity methodology treats clusters of towns as one system so service uplift, station access and land use work together across the whole corridor.

A) Town Growth Zones (TGZs) via Station Investment Zones (SIZs) around existing stations—developer contributions, business‑rates retention and commercial development help fund upgrades.

B) New Green Towns (NGTs) via Mayoral Development Corporations (MDCs) around new stations—assemble land at existing‑use value to capture larger LVU for rail infrastructure.

Corridor LVU mechanism: pool TGZ and NGT uplift to fund capex and accelerate frequency upgrades
Adopt a place‑based duty aligning rail with the UK Infrastructure Strategy

Create Corridor Metroisation Plans for frequencies, stopping patterns, interchanges and access
Provide corridor‑level transparency on mode share (<10 km), emissions, accessibility and milestones

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