Eating more healthily, going to the gym twice a week, reading ten books – exchanging New Year's Resolutions is what gets the nation through January. Kier Starmer's? "2026 will be the year that Britain turns a corner".
Fighting talk. But for the transport sector, the question isn't whether Britain will turn a corner - it's whether the infrastructure exists to get us there in the first place. Last year gave us a rich mix of policies, plans and timelines. Now it's time to see how they work in practice. Will the trains run on time? Will new transport systems work as intended? All eyes are now on the Government to deliver.
All aboard: Testing nationalisation at scale
Rail will be a central delivery priority over the next six months, as attention shifts from the introduction of the Railways Bill to its parliamentary progress and practical implementation.
Several major train operating companies, such as West Midlands Trains, are slated to transfer to public control this year, marking another step towards a unified network. But the nationalisation of Govia Thameslink Railway, scheduled for the end of May, will be the most visible milestone so far. It is more than symbolic - it is the public sector's first real test of running a complex, heavily used network at scale.
March sees the rail fares freeze take effect, followed by the rollout of new Network Rail timetables in May. These small, tangible changes will be a key opportunity for customers to judge whether the Government's reforms make a practical difference.
Rail will be scrutinised in the cold light of ORR data, with performance, delays, complaints, and safety reports providing a steady drumbeat of accountability. The stakes are high: customers will not forgive a system that is slow, overcrowded, or opaque. Passenger confidence, service stability and performance metrics will be the measure by which reform is judged in 2026, making rail both a symbolic and practical bellwether for the wider transport agenda.
Rebalancing act
Labour's plans for 2026 include significant ambitions to improve transport across the north of England. Central to this is the Government's Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project, now formally pledged with up to £45bn in funding to connect cities from Liverpool and Manchester to Leeds and York - with potential for new east‑west links across the Pennines.
It represents one of the most ambitious attempts to tackle decades of under‑investment in the north, and could bring faster, more frequent connections that northern businesses have long demanded. However, delivery timelines are long, with major works extending into the 2030s and beyond - and progress on the ground does not always keep pace with ambition.
All roads lead to home...
If rail is about scale and scrutiny, buses and roads are about devolution and demonstration. Buses are another litmus test for 2026. The Bus Services Act, enshrined in law last October, expands local powers to franchise and manage networks across England, giving local leaders more control over routes and scheduling. This includes the power to identify services they deem socially necessary, ending the risk of operators scrapping routes relied on by passengers, particularly those who are older, disabled or living in rural areas, at short notice. It's exactly the kind of policy that the public appreciate on the day-to-day, and there's much voter trust to be gained here if they succeed.
Zero‑emission bus fleets will continue to grow rapidly in 2026. Following a strong acceleration in 2025, manufacturers are scaling up production, and operators are modernising to meet both environmental targets and passenger expectations – a shift that will place the UK at the forefront of electrified bus transport in Europe.
Meanwhile, self-driving taxi and bus trials are underway under the Department for Transport's "Driving Innovation" pilot programme. Small-scale, driverless services will test safety, viability, and public appetite. They also present an opportunity to consider how new technologies could support safer, more reliable and more accessible journeys - particularly for women and passengers with additional mobility or accessibility needs. As the trials progress, how these vehicles integrate with existing traffic will be closely watched by ministers and passengers alike.
Up in the air: Growth vs green
Aviation policy in 2026 looks set, as it has been for some time now, to be a balancing act between growth and sustainability.
Encouraged by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the government has moved a step closer to a third runway at Heathrow by backing the airport's expansion plan as the basis for progressing the project. This will feed into a policy review this year, with public consultation to follow.
Ministers now face a familiar dilemma - the economic case for more capacity versus the UK's net-zero commitments. Sustainable Aviation Fuels are meant to help bridge that gap, but high costs and limited infrastructure mean progress is slow. As decisions loom, the months ahead are likely to be politically tense - particularly within the Labour Party and between London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and his colleagues in Government.
The missing link: Where's the strategy?
Amid these sector-specific developments, the Integrated National Transport Strategy (INTS) will act as the connective tissue, bringing coherence to policy across rail, roads, local transport, AVs, and aviation. The strategy, long heralded as a blueprint for coordinated mobility, will finally be judged on its ability to deliver outcomes on the ground.
In December, Minister for Local Transport Lilian Greenwood confirmed it would be published in "early next year". The DfT's "call for ideas" for the strategy received 6,000 responses, indicating the scale of stakeholder demand for coherent direction.
The danger is obvious. Britain has no shortage of strategies. What it lacks is coordination enforced by spending decisions. The key question is whether this Strategy will support greater coordination through spending decisions, rather than simply setting out existing priorities.
The devil is in the delivery
Rail nationalisation, bus franchising, autonomous vehicles, zero-emission fleets, aviation expansion - each represents a high-stakes experiment in modernising Britain's transport infrastructure, and 2026 is Judgement Day. Get it right, and the Government builds credibility for deeper reform. Get it wrong, and the political costs multiply fast: delays attributed to structural reforms, unreliable bus services, and emissions targets missed as major infrastructure projects progress. Let's hope that when Keir Starmer comes to revisit his New Year's Resolution this December, Britain has well and truly turned the corner.
