South Western Railways will be renationalised in May 2025. (Image: Getty)
A new law has passed last week allowing for the government to take rail contracts back into public ownership – yet experts say changing who runs them won’t “deliver more reliable and affordable services for passengers”.
Three rail operators will be renationalised in 2025 following Labour’s new Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024. This allows for the government to maintain its manifesto pledge and take rail contracts back into public ownership within five years.
The transport department has confirmed that South Western Railways will be renationalised in May, C2C in July, and Greater Anglia in autumn.
However, critics of the plan have argued that public ownership will simply not fix the issues with the railways, claiming Labour has “parked the big decisions”.
Andy Bagnall, chief executive of Rail Partners, said: “Simply changing who runs the trains won’t deliver more reliable and affordable services for passengers, reduce subsidy for taxpayers, or grow rail freight,” adding that the government has “parked the big decisions” on how to fix the railways.
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Labour’s new Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 passed last week. (Image: Getty)
The transport department said the renationalisation aims to improve reliability, boost economic growth and will save a whopping £150 million per year in fees.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says how “a complex system of private train operators has too often failed its users”.
Britain’s rail network was first nationalised by Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee in 1948 and then privatised again under Sir John Major’s Conservative government in 1993.
Network Rail, which runs railway infrastructure in England, Scotland, and Wales, is publicly owned. However, trains and most smaller stations are split into franchises run by different private companies.
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C2C to be renationalised in July 2025. (Image: Getty)
Despite the boom in rail usage since privatisation, a number of rail firms have faced criticism over fares and reliability.
In September 2020, the franchise system created during privatisation in the mid-1990s was scrapped and the government in effect took control of the railways.
Now the industry is being run through management contracts, where they get a fixed fee to run services, and the taxpayer carries the financial risk. Major operators included in this are East Coast Mainline, TransPennine, Northern and South Eastern.