The Transport Secretary praised the city’s ‘proud’ railway heritage, ‘incredible’ talent and skills in the rail supply chain
Joe Locker Local Democracy Reporter and Oscar Fisher Trainee Reporter
00:01, 02 Apr 2026
How a Great British Railways train is set to look(Image: Department of Transport)
The Transport Secretary says the Government is “putting our money where our mouth is” on Great British Railways, pointing out that “really significant investment” is on the horizon for Derby.
Heidi Alexander visited Nottingham on Wednesday (April 1) to discuss the launch of a new transport strategy, during which she spoke about the ongoing work to bring Great British Railways’ headquarters to the city.
The major project would bring together 17 different organisations and instead run Britain’s railways as a single organisation, Great British Railways, for the first time in decades.
The exact location of the GBR headquarters in Derby is still to be announced, but a transition GBR team is already working on the future of the organisation in the city.
Derby won the right to be the home of GBR after beating competition from six other railway towns and cities through Government decision and also a public vote.
Speaking in Nottingham, Heidi Alexander told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “We’ve got really ambitious plans working with Mayor Claire Ward, we are bringing the headquarters of Great British Railways to Derby, which is going to be a really significant investment in that city.
“It’s a city with a proud railway heritage, incredible talent and skills in the rail supply chain there. I think we are putting our money where our mouth is.”
Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander MP discussed bringing Great British Railways’ headquarters to Derby(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
On her trip to the East Midlands, the Transport Secretary also discussed the government’s new transport strategy, which will give local politicians more powers to help passengers use buses, trams and trains more easily without having to download multiple mobile apps or carry several tickets at once.
Passengers in Nottingham and Derby can already use the Ride app, operated by the East Midlands Combined County Authority, to plan trips and buy bus and tram tickets, as well as hire Lime e-bikes and Dott e-scooters.
“It is one of the reasons I’ve come to Nottingham to launch our better connected strategy which is all about delivering a properly integrated public transport system in England, is because I know Nottingham is really best-in-class when it comes to integration,” she told the LDRS.
“Here you’ve got integrated ticketing, so you don’t have to buy multiple tickets for bus, tram, and train. You’ve got reliable real-time information. That’s what I want to be rolled out to other parts of the country.”
The East Midlands has been historically underfunded in transport, and promises made for significant infrastructure projects have been broken.
The transport secretary told the LDRS she wanted to “right some of the wrongs of the previous Conservative government when it comes to our public transport system and our roads network as well.”
High Speed 2 (HS2) was initially planned to stop in Toton at a brand new East Midlands hub station, before this was cancelled in favour of a stop at the existing East Midlands Parkway by former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
However, Keir Starmer’s predecessor, Tory PM Rishi Sunak, then went on to cancel the entire East Midlands leg of the high-speed rail link, leaving the region high and dry.
She added: “I do think the combination of a good bus network, a good tram network, plugged in to the national rail network, alongside roads that are maintained, junctions that are appropriately enhanced to relieve those congestion pinch-points.
“Those are the basics. That’s what this strategy is all about.”
Mayor of the East Midlands, Claire Ward, added: It’s a real role model for the rest of the country because we have a fantastic bus service, indeed one of the best bus services in the country, frequently nominated as that. Brilliant bus drivers, but also integrated with the tram system and our great rail network as well.
“We see this as an example, and that is why we are interested now in what are the opportunities for rural transport to be integrated too.
The Mayor of the East Midlands Claire Ward pictured in Nottingham city centre(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
“In the future we want to see integrated transport in the region.
“The thing we’ve been showing to the Secretary of State is the Ride app, paid for initially by the Government, being developed over the next few years, started here in Nottingham and Derby, a project that is showing those trams, buses, trains, scooters, e-bikes all in real-time.
“It has been a great success so far with over 15,000 downloads. What we are seeing is the opportunity to expand that over the next few years right across the region.”
