A late change to the Railways Bill means that Great British Railways will not be subjected to casual or informal privatisation. The government says the amendment will make it impossible to change the status of GBR by simply reintroducing the private sector, because such a change would need a full Act of Parliament.

‘Build it, and they will come,’ is sometimes attributed to Peter Hendy who, when he was transport commissioner for London, used the phrase to justify the large investment in London Overground. Those words are actually a misquote from a 1989 film, but he was right about the Overground, which was created almost 20 years ago, because the result was a transformation. That word is often over-used, but on this occasion it was fair enough. Until 2007, the North London Line, part of the Silverlink Metro franchise owned by National Express, had been a disgrace.