The new Labour Government in UK will bring back train operators under public ownership, said King Charles in the first State Opening of Parliament, announcing the creation of Great British Railways (GBR)
“My ministers will bring forward legislation to improve the railways by reforming rail franchising, establishing Great British Railways and bringing train operators into public ownership,” the King says.
Under Labour’s plan, almost all passenger train operators will be transferred into public ownership within the first term of a Starmer government.
This will see the nationalisation of Avanti West Coast, c2c, Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, Gatwick Express, Grand Central, Great Northern, GWR, Greater Anglia, London Northwestern Railway, London Overground, Merseyrail, South Western Railway, Southern, Stansted Express, Thameslink, and West Midlands Railway.
LNER, Northern, Transport for Wales, Southeastern, Scotrail, Caledonian Sleeper, and Transpennine Express are all currently publicly-owned.
Great British Railways: Most contracts to expire by the end of 2025
Most existing railway contracts are set to expire by the end of 2025, and while some extend into the 2030s, senior Labour sources suggested the Government could take advantage of break clauses to bring services back into public ownership sooner.
According to the Labour plan, the Government will still allow privately-owned “open access” train operators – such as Grand Central, Heathrow Express, Hull Trains, and Lumo – to run services.
Freight operators on the rail network will also remain within the private sector.
Railway Industry Association (RIA) welcomes the initiative and say the association will support the Government’s decision.
“The Railway Industry Association (RIA) welcomes today’s King’s Speech as a strong legislative programme for driving growth by building sustainable infrastructure and improving transport,” said RIA chief executive Darren Caplan.
“RIA and our members support the Government’s pledge to establish a reformed and unified railway system under Great British Railways focused on improving affordability, reliability and performance. A new body with strategic oversight and responsibility for rail can focus on meeting growing passenger demand and boosting industry revenues.”
Following World War II, British railway operators were first nationalized in accordance with the Transport Act 1947. This Act provided for the nationalization of the network as part of a policy of nationalizing public services by Clement Attlee’s Labour Government.
British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948 when it took over the assets of the Big Four: Great Western Railway (GWR), the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and the Southern Railway (SR).
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