Recruitment began in January for the role of chair, which will pay £200,000 to £300,000 a year for 10 days of work a month. The process is ongoing, and the final decision, which will be taken by ministers, has not been made.
The publicly-owned company will oversee rail infrastructure and services, which had previously been separated, as part of Labour’s reversal of the Conservative rail privatization from the 1990s. Great British Railways is due to be up and running in 2027, with passenger services transferred to public ownership by the end of that year as private rail operators’ contracts expire.
The job was described by the Department for Transport as a “leadership challenge of national importance” and “a once in a generation leadership opportunity.”
One of the three people, all granted anonymity to speak frankly, said there was an ongoing conversation in government about whether to make a decision soon or leave it until after Andy Burnham takes over as prime minister, which is likely on July 20. They suggested it was still possible that any decision could be derailed by political considerations about giving a leading Conservative a role in Labour’s flagship nationalisation project.
However, another of the three people described Street as a figure who reached across political lines and was respected for his nine-year stint as managing director of John Lewis.
Street has history with Britain’s railways; he narrowly decided not to quit the Conservatives in 2023 when former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped a leg of the planned High Speed 2 rail line from Birmingham to Manchester.
He had an ally in Burnham, then mayor of Greater Manchester, who opposed Sunak’s decision vehemently too.