Policy paper

DOHL corporate plan 2022

Published 3 February 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Executive summary

DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL) is the government’s public sector owning group with responsibility for 3 train operating companies (TOCs) and a rolling stock leasing company. It is owned by and reports to the Secretary of State and maintains constant readiness to take responsibility for other train companies that transfer from the private to public sectors as required.

It has evolved rapidly from its original role as the ‘operator of last resort’ and holding company for London North Eastern Railway (LNER), which transferred to DOHL from Virgin Trains East Coast in 2018. Today, the DOHL Group has over 14,800 staff and currently runs more than 3,600 trains a day, representing approximately 25% of the total of England’s railway. It has responsibility for LNER, Northern and Southeastern, reflecting the industry overall by covering long distance, regional and London commuter operations.

DOHL’s ultimate aim is to return its train operators to the private sector with improved operations in terms of safety, financial, operational and commercial performance and customer service, with an enhanced reputation compared with when they arrived in the group.

This plan sets out the main outcomes and associated key performance indicators (KPIs) for 2022 to 2023. These are:

1. To return DOHL TOCs to the private sector with improved operations in terms safety, financial, operational and commercial performance and customer service, with an enhanced reputation compared with when they arrived in the group. As and when required by the Secretary of State, DOHL will support the return of its TOCs to the private sector. It will use its directors’ and employees’ experience of transferring out private sector franchises to new owning groups, and its knowledge of corporate restructuring. The exact role played by the department, DOHL, and any external advisors will need to be agreed in advance.
2. To optimise revenue and control costs within DOHL and its TOCs. DOHL TOCs will have a constant focus on efficiencies and effective cost management to create required budget outputs. DOHL TOCs will provide options to the department and encourage timely decision making on important business levers of the companies’ outputs and finances. To support these objectives the TOCs will focus on providing reliable forecasts, and accurate reporting of actuals.
3. To maintain readiness to transfer ownership of train companies from the private sector to DOHL in an efficient and effective manner with no disruption to passengers and employees. DOHL will work closely with the DfT Franchise Resilience and Mobilisation (FRAM) team and Section 30 team to ensure it operates in a state of constant readiness to take over responsibility for more train operators if they fail to renegotiate new contract awards. In doing so, it will ensure:

• a seamless transition of ownership with no disruption to customers and employees
• the rapid filling of any identified gaps in resources, structures or systems
• direction and reassurance to the executive management and employees – maintaining and improving employee engagement
• no loss of financial control or commercial momentum
• effective governance functions, continuity of relationships and no disruption to significant projects
• management control through the process of change and reassurance to all stakeholders

Throughout each stage of the transfer and beyond, safety of customers and colleagues remains paramount.

Current business

Background

DOHL is owned by and reports to the Secretary of State although it is constituted to act independently. It was created in 2018 to own and manage the East Coast Mainline operator which was rebranded as LNER. LNER is now one of the best performing TOCs as the industry emerges from coronavirus (COVID-19).

In March 2019, DOHL formed a rolling stock leasing company (ROSCO) to manage a specific historical train leasing issue. It acquired a fleet of 40 trains until it sold them in July 2021. In 2020, the Northern Rail franchise transferred to DOHL as it was under-performing and facing very significant public scrutiny. Train performance and stakeholder relationships are now much improved. Southeastern Trains became part of DOHL in October last year following a serious breach of the company’s franchise agreement.

DOHL is managed by experienced industry professionals with the expertise, agility, leadership and commitment to take over further operators as required. It is also well placed to take a leading role in the modernisation and transformation of the industry prior to the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR).

Purpose

DOHL’s primary purpose is to take active ownership of train operators that transfer from the private to public sector, such that they are managed well ahead of a return to the private sector. It takes full managerial accountability for the train company immediately after its legal transition. As such it oversees the TOC executive team, senior appointments, succession planning, business plans, budget and investment plans, financial, safety and operational performance and stakeholder, passenger and reputational issues.

Its TOCs receive safety oversight, strategic direction, solid governance from DOHL and external representation with the Department for Transport (DfT) and other relevant trade bodies. DOHL also provides strong, independent advice to its subsidiaries, the industry and to DfT. As a result, its TOCs are much improved and respected in the industry.

DOHL also operates in a state of constant readiness to take over responsibility for more train operators as may be required.

With its current portfolio and any further additions, it will continue to modernise and transform the safety, financial and operational performance and reputation of its TOCs ready for a return to the private sector.

Vision and values

DOHL’s vision for its train operators is that they will be industry leading in terms of safety, financial, operational and commercial performance and customer service, with an enhanced reputation compared with when they arrived in the group.

To achieve this, it upholds 5 values. Good customer outcomes, value for money, excellent passenger service and accessibility are at the heart of each value of:

1. Highest levels of safety for passengers, colleagues and the wider public.
2. Strong commitment to improving equality, diversity and inclusion.
3. Best in class governance.
4. Being open, transparent and accountable.
5. Pursuit of sustainable and ethical operations.

TOC mobilisations

DFT’s FRAM and Section 30 team continually reviews the likelihood of a private sector TOC needing to transfer to DOHL. Typically, this might be an option for 2 to 3 train operators within a 12-month horizon. As the possibility increases, there is very close interworking between the 2 organisations. During mobilisation and transfer^{[footnote 1]} DOHL focuses on 7 main objectives of:

1. A safe and seamless transition of ownership with no disruption to customers, employees, suppliers and other stakeholders.
2. Direction and reassurance to the executive management and employees to maintain focus, commitment and engagement.
3. A comprehensive external communications programme delivered to a broad range of stakeholders.
4. The rapid filling of any identified gaps in resources, structures or systems.
5. No loss of financial control or commercial momentum.
6. Introducing effective governance functions, continuity of relationships and no disruption to significant projects.
7. If necessary, the establishment of a new brand.

Throughout each stage of the transfer and beyond the safety of customers and colleagues remains paramount.

Organisational structure, governance and reporting

The structure of DOHL reflects its primary purpose as a holding company that supports its TOCs to improve before being returned to the private sector – rather than an operating entity. It deliberately has a very small central overhead sitting above its TOCs – 9 staff (of which 4 are directors), 4 non-executive directors (NEDs) and a chair.

DOHL’s governance structure has been deliberately designed in this way to achieve the outcomes set out in this plan, with a capable, accountable board supporting and challenging its TOCs to supply these.

Following DfT’s recent governance review^{[footnote 2]}

The board meets every 4 weeks, and its 3 subcommittees meet quarterly. The Safety, Health and Environment Subcommittee is chaired by Chris Gibb who also chairs a similar committee for each of the TOCs. The Audit and Risk Committee has an independent chair while the Remuneration Committee is chaired by Richard George as DOHL Chair.

Robin Gisby sits as non-executive chair of the boards of LNER, Northern Trains and Southeastern. Similarly, the group’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) sits as a non-executive finance board member on the TOC boards. A Network Rail representative sits as a non-executive director on LNER’s board and DOHL’s Group Financial Controller is also a non-executive director on Southeastern’s board.

DOHL reports to the DfT’s Director General Rail Strategy and Services at a 4-weekly oversight meeting. This governance approach recognises the DfT’s shareholder role for DOHL and complements the contractual relationship between each TOC and the DfT’s market teams.

DOHL’s approach to managing its TOCs recognises that they will be returned to the private sector in the future. For example, DOHL undertakes an annual process for reviewing and setting benchmarks and targets for each TOC. These are also discussed by the TOC with their DfT market team. Related KPIs are monitored every rail period and reforecast on a quarterly basis. The budgeting and reforecast of KPIs is reviewed by DOHL board and the DOHL finance team.

The KPIs differ for each TOC with individual metrics tailored to their different operating models (for example, long distance, regional, London commuter), but cover the generic outputs required of a best practice train operator. These outputs include:

• safety
• operations and performance
• customer experience
• accessibility
• revenue and commercial
• cost control
• employees
• stakeholders
• equality, diversity and inclusion

DOHL and the market teams work in a collaborative manner to ensure that each TOC produces its part in a progressive industry, as well as the specific requirements of the department. Hence it is a small owning group with 3 main features of:

1. An expert but light touch: DOHL provides governance, support and advice. Consistency and sharing of best-practice takes place by co-operation between TOCs in the group. However, direct intervention will be taken when required on national initiatives where consistency is essential.
2. Devolved responsibility: TOCs manage operations and TOC matters and are encouraged to empower managers at all levels. TOCs and employees are encouraged to think for themselves whilst recognising their contractual commitments and their position within temporary public ownership.
3. Ensuring that its TOCs are compliant with their contractual obligations to DfT.

The Chief Executive remains accountable for the overall performance of DOHL.

Communications and stakeholder management

DOHL’s communications strategy is focused on reputation management and the promotion of its TOCs, rather than raising the profile of DOHL as a separate entity. To the extent that it has an external profile, stakeholder perception has shifted to it becoming known as the government’s public sector owning group, rather than the ‘operator of last resort’.

DOHL’s Group Communications Director liaises with the DfT Rail Communications team and Press Office on behalf of its TOCs. She ensures best practice is shared across TOC internal communications, media and stakeholder communications.

DOHL provides an overarching stakeholder engagement strategy largely focused on internal stakeholders within the DfT and external consumer bodies and regulators. In-depth stakeholder management is created via its TOCs with oversight from DOHL.

DOHL TOCs recognise the importance of building and maintaining strong and successful relationships with customers, stakeholders and partners. Each TOC has strong engagement programmes in place for all stakeholders from political representatives to local authorities and chambers of commerce. DOHL TOCs engage closely with stakeholders within and outside the rail industry on the main rail projects on their routes, to understand and shape plans for the future, notably timetable changes and government decisions on investment.

DOHL can also act as a sounding board for new industry initiatives and reforms, while reporting back on how messages are received within the TOCs and their regions.

Strategic imperatives

Assumptions and objectives

In reviewing its previous strategic objectives in preparing this plan, the board has made the following assumptions for the next 18 months to December 2023. These are that:

• DOHL will remain structurally unchanged and broadly in its current form for at least 18 months. During that time there is likely to be significant reform and change in the industry
• DOHL will work with the department where appropriate on the establishment of GBR and the potential implications from this
• none of DOHL’s TOCs will be sold back to the private sector in the immediate future and DOHL would be given appropriate notice to resource itself sufficiently to support that process
• cost reduction will remain a priority KPI for DOHL and its TOCs
• its TOCs will continue to develop initiatives that benefit the wider industry

Strategic objectives

Based on the previous, DOHL has reconfirmed 5 strategic objectives. These are:

1. To ensure that first-class safety systems, oversight and governance are always in place.
2. To modernise and transform its TOCs, supporting good customer outcomes with customer driven business models.
3. To demonstrate best practice in cost control, cost reduction, efficiency realisation, revenue management, subsidy reduction and digital innovation, whilst assuring efficiency to the public purse.
4. To be a highly regarded owning group, inclusive employer of choice and a productive and engaging place to work.
5. To ensure DOHL TOCs uphold the highest levels of sustainable, ethical and environmental performance.

At all times, DOHL will ensure that TOC KPIs align to their contracts and that they work towards readiness to return to the private sector.

DOHL TOCs will have a constant focus on efficiencies and effective cost management to produce required budget outputs. DOHL TOCs will provide options to the department and encourage timely decision making on the companies’ outputs and finances. To support these objectives the TOCs will focus on providing reliable forecasts, and accurate reporting of actuals.

When ready and when required, DOHL will use its directors’ and employees’ experience of transferring out private sector franchises to new owning groups, and its knowledge of corporate restructuring to prepare and support its TOCs for their transfer into new private sector ownership.

Further background on each of these is set out below.

First class safety systems

Keeping passengers and colleagues safe and secure will always be the priority for DOHL and its TOCs. DOHL ensures that first class safety systems, oversight and governance are always in place. This is achieved on behalf of each TOC board by a quarterly Safety, Health & Environment Committee (SHEC), chaired by a DOHL NED who also briefs the DOHL board and Oversight Committee on safety matters. This NED is currently Chris Gibb, who has more than 40 years’ experience of railway operations. A second DOHL NED also attends the SHEC meetings.

The SHEC meetings will continue to provide oversight in the following main areas of:

• ensuring that the senior TOC team give safety matters appropriate priority, and discharge their obligations set out in their safety certificate (for example, as measured by the ORR’s Risk Management Maturity Model (‘RM3’) in which Southeastern recently achieved a rare maximum rating of 5 for safety leadership
• monitor the TOC’s safety and environment results against their targets approved by the TOC board, and challenge appropriately where targets are not being met
• encourage cross-industry safety issue awareness and collaboration, both within DOHL group and across the national rail industry (such as the prioritisation of tactile platform surfaces)
• engage the accountable TOC leaders on topical safety issues, supporting, encouraging and challenging where necessary (for example, the management of train underframe cracks on Hitachi and CAF trains across all 3 TOCs)
• provide assurance to TOC boards, DOHL board and Oversight Committee that safety, security and environmental compliance across the DOHL group is being competently managed (such as the safe management of crowds during special events and severe disruption)

In the event of DOHL taking on another TOC the DOHL board will continue to ensure necessary due diligence on safety matters is undertaken prior to transfer, satisfy itself that safety leadership roles are filled by people with the necessary experience and competence at the point of transfer, and implement best practice corporate safety management oversight at the earlier possible opportunity after transfer.

Modernisation, transformation and exceptional customer service

DOHL TOCs will produce a reliable, safe, clean service for passengers with a focus on continued improvements to passenger accessibility.

Various programmes are in place across the DOHL Group to deliver exceptional passenger service. Over the year, Northern saw the biggest improvement in customer service satisfaction in the rail industry with a score of 72.4 [%] out of 100 in January 2022, compared with 68.6 [%] in July 2021 and 62.5 [%] in January 2021. The improvement in score of 9.9 percentage points compares to a 5.2 point rise across the rail industry as a whole.^{[footnote 3]}

Going forward, over the next 12 months, LNER will introduce significant changes to technology that will enable colleagues to access a single view of customers’ travelling history with LNER. This will ensure that all frontline teams can respond to passengers in a personalised way. Other transformative programmes, including LNER’s retail strategy and gateway station developments, will continue.

Southeastern’s priority will be to win back its customers and continue to build an organisation and business plan that can secure the post-pandemic recovery of the railway. Southeastern’s deeper alliance with Network Rail will produce much better outcomes for passengers, drive revenue recovery and improve efficiencies for this part of the network.

DOHL TOCs will continue to refurbish and upgrade stations, waiting rooms, signage and facilities, as well as introducing an industry-first family-friendly lounge at London King’s Cross station (Summer 2022).

Accessibility upgrades and improvements will ensure that all DOHL TOC customers are able to make journeys that are as seamless and effortless as possible.

Modernisation and reform

DOHL TOCs are committed to the development of initiatives and programmes that deliver industry transformation, often taking a leadership role within the broader industry.

Building on its unique position, DOHL has already begun the development of industry-wide initiatives that will help to facilitate the creation of GBR. These include:

• LNER has developed a unique digital expertise, leading to developments such as the Horizon booking system that is available for adoption across the industry
• Northern is working with the Great British Railways Transition Team’s (GRBTT) Fares and Ticketing Reform (FTR) programme on the roll out of a PAYG offer outside London, developing a rail academy for the north and leading the Station as a Place programme
• Southeastern is developing an alliance with Network Rail
• Southeastern’s deeper alliance with Network Rail will drive revenue recovery, and improve efficiencies for this part of the network

Over the coming year, LNER will focus on transformative business and technological change to further enhance its backend systems and employee experience. It will also continue to evolve its rapid innovation (Digital Avatar project), data science and machine learning offerings, enabling LNER to innovate at pace. LNER’s second incarnation of Future Labs is a vital innovation incubator working with leading external innovators to solve problems in rail.

Southeastern will continue to invest in customer insight that will transform and enhance its passenger offer.

Northern will continue to invest heavily in new transformative technology to facilitate the attainment of its key business objectives. This will include the progression of its £14 million upgrade of station customer information systems over the next 4 years and £4.7 million capital investment programme in upgrading IT infrastructure and facilities. This includes its networking, applications platform, data storage platform and cloud migration. Northern now offers its customers a transformed experience (compared to pre-COVID-19) through significant improvements in its service offer and the delivery of its large-scale station investment programme. Northern’s use of LeadMind as its remote condition monitoring system is dramatically increasing the real time understanding of train performance and enabling more timely maintenance interventions.

Best practice in revenue management, subsidy reduction and digital innovation

Good progress is already underway across the DOHL Group within each of its TOCs.

Passenger revenue has also grown much faster in DOHL TOCs than regional and industry averages.

As new leisure and commuter patterns continue to evolve, DOHL TOCs will develop further customer insights to match service delivery and timetables to new and different levels of demand. This in turn is creating a need to review rolling stock types and allocation, depot maintenance plans and the scheduling of Network Rail’s engineering work.

We will develop a new approach for ticketing and fares which match the new demand, whilst exploring new innovative sales channels.

Creating and trail-blazing new innovations in digital experience for the benefit of the wider industry will continue to be a priority for DOHL TOCs.

LNER continues to produce industry-leading retail and digital best in class experiences across the entire passenger journey, including the evolution of its Rapid Innovation (Digital Avatar project), data science and machine learning offerings. In the coming year, LNER will be building on this to further digital innovation for the rail industry whilst delivering cost efficiencies, enhancing self-service, adding customer value, and increasing farebox and ancillary revenue.

Northern has successfully rolled-out its digital trains upgrade programme. The significant majority of the fleet (both new trains and legacy) are now supported by digital CCTV systems and Northern is aiming to ensure the network is fully digitalised over the coming years.

Southeastern will also focus on digital innovations to improve and modernise the passenger experience through, for example contactless payment points across its network and digital ticketing.

As well as optimising revenue, DOHL TOCs will have a constant focus on efficiencies and effective cost management to produce required budget outputs. Cost targets from the department are likely to be demanding and DOHL will, through its detailed understanding of its businesses and focus on its financial outputs, support the department’s aims. DOHL TOCs will provide options to the department and encourage timely decision-making on top business levers of the companies’ outputs and finances. To support these objectives the TOCs will focus on providing reliable forecasts, and accurate reporting of actuals.

A top benefit of this approach will be reducing the current unsustainable levels of taxpayer subsidy for each TOC, as shown.

Subsidy milestones target (2022 train operating companies business plans

Train operating companies	Milestone	Delivery date per annual business plan
London North Eastern Railway	Moving from subsidy to premium	Dec 23
Northern Trains Ltd	Return to pre-covid levels of subsidy (£575 million)	June 24
Southeastern	Moving from subsidy to premium, ignoring HS1 track access costs	Dec 24

Not all milestones are calculated on a rolling annual basis, that is, previous 13 periods aggregate.

An inclusive employer of choice – a productive and engaging place to work

All colleagues across the DOHL Group contribute towards achieving DOHL’s objective to create a productive and engaging place to work and to be an ‘employer of choice’ by promoting a culture of equal opportunity, inclusion, diversity and belonging. DOHL’s TOCs each have in place a strong equality, diversity and inclusion strategy that protects individual rights and promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion. It also provides for their Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) that is set out in the Equality Act 2010, and also within their contract with DfT.

On top of these statutory and contractual stipulations, strong governance arrangements through Remuneration and Nominations Committees and board meetings, ensures that TOC people policies and operational processes are free from bias and fully inclusive of all colleagues regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Good data collection and analysis is critical for progressing equality, diversity and inclusion goals, as well as transparency and accountability. DOHL will encourage their TOCs to improve their data strategies to enable an accurate assessment of the baseline and the setting of stretching but realistic targets. DOHL and its TOCs will work collaboratively with the industry EDI forum, aligning their actions to industry principles and also with DfT, sharing data and insights that will support actions to update EDI strategies and targets.

DOHL’s wider aim is for its TOCs to be recognised as the industry’s most inclusive employers and for them to create transformed modern workplaces that reflect more accurately the communities they serve.

To achieve this, DOHL’s executive team will continue to provide strong support and to challenge its TOCs to achieve, as a minimum, the following commitments and outcomes:

• significantly increasing the representation of currently under-represented groups ensuring the workforces reflect the diversity of modern British society and the customers and passengers they serve. Also, incorporating a broader definition of diversity for example identity, cognitive and neuro diversity
• demonstrably celebrating individuality, building an inclusive environment through excellent inclusive leadership
• creating an accelerated growth in entry-level opportunities with a significant boost in apprenticeships, and specifically targeted recruitment campaigns across areas of social inequality
• transforming resourcing practices ensuring talent attraction, selection, promotion and retention of diverse managers and leaders, train drivers and engineers
• expanding the pool of diverse senior leaders through succession pipelines and accelerated talent programmes, with an ambitious desire to better represent the diversity of the communities they serve
• ensuring that diversity and equality in the supply chain is as strong as in their own organisation, through considering and facilitating diversity in procurement decisions
• setting ambitious targets for diversity improvement overseen by an appropriate internal governance body and their Remuneration Committees. Data will be critical to measure success and so a rapid improvement in self-identification and to generate the trust to facilitate disclosure is crucial

The ultimate measure of how diverse DOHL TOCs are will be demonstrated in their workforce representation and whether these reflect more accurately the communities they serve. The targets will reflect representation as reported in the 2021 ONS Census. Using this data, DOHL TOCs will complete a diversity modelling exercise, creating a baseline and using predictive analysis to determine a framework of new diversity goals which will drive ambitious, yet deliverable plans. Progress will be reported through the various governance structures, demonstrating performance against diversity and inclusion targets, which will also feed into DOHL TOC’s EDI strategies. The DOHL TOCs will also use progress data to both report to, and influence, industry targets.

As collation and analysis of EDI data improves, DOHL TOCs will become further committed to setting and achieving strong targets which will drive stronger representation of all groups, making truly diverse and high performing workforces.

Considerable progress has been made in reducing the gender pay gap year on year to 11.3% in LNER, outperforming the UK gender pay gap of 15.4% in 2021. Southeastern also made an improvement of 1.5% and their gap stands level with the UK average at 15.4%. Northern has further to go with their pay gap standing at 27.3%, a 30 basis points (bp) adverse movement from the prior year.

DOHL TOCs will continue to focus on improving diversity through the inclusion of more stretching measures to actively promote and increase recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce, in line with the commitments in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, (Chapter Eight, Commitment 61).

DOHL TOCs will also continue to play an active and leading part in the industry EDI forum. As a benchmark, DOHL TOCs will use the various EDI maturity models that exist as a framework of self-assessment to anchor their focus. DOHL’s ambition is for its TOCs to work towards ultimate maturity and achieve Level 4: ‘Integrated’ and ‘Leading’, and not just to lead our industry, but to sit shoulder to shoulder with EDI leaders across ‘UK business’.

Highest levels of sustainable, ethical and environmental performance.

The sustainable, ethical and environmental performance of DOHL TOCs remains a priority for the DOHL Group. DOHL TOCs will continue to align with DfT’s Rail Environment Policy and wider industry approach to net zero carbon and to invest, where possible, in a sustainable fleet. DOHL will support its TOCs to innovate and lead in areas such as electrification, battery and hydrogen trains.

Southeastern’s train fleet is already 100% electric and the electricity used by its trains (except on HS1) is produced without generating carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e). Southeastern’s ongoing environment and energy plan includes a target to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2e, and this forms an element of its wider sustainability planning.

Subject to the appropriate funding and budget approval, DOHL TOCs will make the following improvements in its environmental and social governance (ESG) footprint on the back of investments in rolling stock, which will also have wider efficiency benefits

• LNER is moving towards the replacement of diesel generator units with batteries. Its net zero initiatives include new train procurement, engaging with industry on battery trials and alternative fuels and supporting the improvement in data quality. Many of these actions are medium to long-term, progress is reviewed through the traction energy group.

• Southeastern is working with DfT subject to approvals, to modernise its metro fleet of trains – the majority of which are its ageing Networker fleet. These modernisations will see significant improvements in the customer experience with for example, full air conditioning, customer changing capabilities, real time service information, better accessibility, higher capacity and greater comfort. The modernisation programme will also reduce the amount of electricity being drawn from the network, improving performance and reducing Network Rail’s maintenance cost through the installation of infrastructure monitoring equipment. This will also provide the platform to reduce the total lifetime costs incurred with running and maintaining the rail vehicles deployed on the metro routes.

• Northern continues to develop proposals to remove all diesel-only trains from service by 2040, which includes the development and introduction of battery electric trains (BEMU) and Hydrogen Multiple Unit Trains (HMUs).

Looking ahead

The DOHL Group will remain focused on:

• bringing passengers back to rail in the short-term while transforming services and the experience passengers receive in the long-term
• connecting places and people
• levelling up through enhanced regional and local connectivity, investment and skills
• delivering ambitious targets to decarbonise transport

This DOHL corporate plan and DOHL TOC business plans will ensure that the group supplies its vision, aims and strategic objectives with colleagues who are motivated, skilled and supported to lead the way on industry reform and transformation. This, in turn, will ensure that the industry is able to build a more modern, sustainable and more customer-focused railway that delivers for all its stakeholders.

Footnotes

1. The mobilisation period for the 3 TOCs that have transferred so far has been between 3 and 4 months. ↩

2. DfT OLR Holdings: Deep dive into governance arrangements for 2022 ↩

3. Institute of Customer Service bi-annual survey, January 2022 ↩