Guest comment: Will the new railway really be open to open access?

When somebody says: ‘It goes without saying’, they are prefacing something they think very much needs saying. In the same way, when somebody in a position of authority writes that their expectations are not legally binding, they very much anticipate the recipient will treat them as such.

Thus, Office of Rail and Road Chair Declan Collier probably went and consulted his legal team after receiving Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander’s January 6 letter, setting out her (non-formal, non-legal standing) expectations around the government’s vision for open access (RAIL 1027).