The federal government has spent greater than £30,000 of public cash up to now on rebranding England’s nationalised rail companies beneath the brand new Nice British Railways banner, amid mounting scrutiny over worth for cash.
Nice British Railways, the model beneath which rail companies in England will likely be introduced into public possession, was formally unveiled final month by Heidi Alexander. The brand new identification contains a modernised model of the acquainted double-arrow image final used when Britain’s railways had been publicly owned beneath British Rail.
Alongside the brand, a brand new pink, white and blue livery is because of be utilized to trains and different passenger-facing supplies. Alexander insisted the transfer “isn’t only a paint job”, arguing that it indicators a reset for a rail system that has pissed off passengers for years.
Nevertheless, a Freedom of Info request obtained by Sky Information reveals that £32,400 has already been spent on the design course of. Greater than £27,000 of that complete, excluding VAT, went on viewers analysis and accessibility testing carried out by a specialist company.
The spending additionally lined mock-ups for a future Nice British Railways app and a set of poster designs, though the Division for Transport has but to start procurement for the app itself.
Whereas round half of the UK’s main rail operators are actually beneath public possession, the primary trains to hold the brand new Nice British Railways livery usually are not anticipated to look till the spring.
The Division for Transport mentioned the total value of repainting trains and rebranding stations has not but been decided. Ministers have confused that the brand new branding will likely be rolled out regularly, largely coinciding with routine upkeep schedules, slightly than by an instantaneous and expensive overhaul.
The division additionally declined to supply any estimate for the price of growing the proposed Nice British Railways app, which has been billed as a future “one-stop store” for rail passengers. Officers indicated that key coverage choices stay excellent and that no formal procurement course of has but begun.
The spending has drawn criticism from marketing campaign teams, together with the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which warned that the branding invoice could possibly be “the tip of a pricey rail renationalisation iceberg”.
John O’Connell, the group’s chief govt, mentioned the rebrand raised questions on priorities at a time when passengers proceed to face disruption and excessive fares. “Spending tens of hundreds on logos and focus teams, with out readability on the ultimate value of repainting trains or constructing new digital platforms, suggests an informal strategy to taxpayers’ cash,” he mentioned.
Ministers have pushed again towards these claims, arguing that the branding work has largely been finished in-house and that accessibility testing was a authorized necessity.
The rebrand comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer seeks to underline Labour’s dedication to easing the cost-of-living disaster. Frozen rail fares in England have been cited as one of many early methods households will “start to really feel optimistic change”.
A Division for Transport spokesperson mentioned: “To maximise worth for cash, the Nice British Railways model was designed in-house and will likely be rolled out regularly, slightly than by an costly, all-at-once rebrand. As with all new public-facing identification, focus teams – together with these with accessibility wants – had been important to make sure compliance with accessibility laws.”
Whereas the preliminary prices stay modest within the context of the rail funds, the long-term price ticket of rebranding Britain’s nationalised railways is prone to stay beneath shut scrutiny because the Nice British Railways programme gathers momentum.
