British Rail is back, sort of, as government tries to bring 24 years of rail chaos to a close

Grant Shapps says the launch of Great British Railways marks a ‘new era’. He should hold off with the ‘Great’ until the new body can prove it can do at least as well as clunky old British Rail, writes James Moore

Grant Shapps is changing the guard, with Great British Railways set to oversee these trains and more like them (Simon Calder)

Welcome back British Rail!

But wait just one moment; transport secretary Grant Shapps has put a “Great” before the British and a “ways” after Rail.

It doesn’t matter. His new baby will oversee a shiny new integrated railway so it amounts to much the same thing. It’s sort of like when Coca-Cola  tweaked the recipe, upset everybody, and then brought the old one back as Coca-Cola Classic.