Britain’s railways face a major shake up, according to the contents of the recently published Williams – Shapps Plan for Rail. The changes to the managerial structure are top of the list of recommendations, and there is much strategic discussion in the paper. What though will that mean for the men and women who work in the sector, delivering the railway to a growing list of customers? Those points will be addressed this Friday in RailFreight Live by a panel of forward-thinking voices from the industry.

Last week, the long-awaited Williams Report was published. Now rebranded the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, to include the contributions of transport minister Grant Shapps, the report seeks to map out the next twenty years of rail development in the UK.

The recommendation of broadly bringing all the infrastructure and operations under a single body – nominally Great British Railways – has met with mixed reviews. Some have said the delay in publishing the report (it is over two years late) are down to this single recommendation, which flies in the face of EU requirements for track and train to be under separate management.

Panelists this Friday

The proposed reforms will be discussed in the show on Friday with:

• Daisy Chapman-Chamberlain, the Rail Knowledge Transfer Manager at KTN
• Lucy Prior,  the Business Engagement Director at 3Squared, the north of England-based technology specialists, who are at the forefront of technical development in the railways
• Chris Swan, Head of Rail at Tarmac, one of the most engaged customers of rail freight, and serving a growing sector with ever-increasingly precise demands

You can watch RailFreight Live this Friday 28 May at 1pm CEST on our Youtube Channel.