Its good news for train passengers as rail re-nationalisation begins next year with three firms – South Western Railways (May 2025), C2C (July 2025) and Greater Anglian (Autumn 2025).
This will begin to bring the Labour Party’s promise to bring all rail franchises back under public control within the five years of the current Parliament, as each private franchise comes to the end of the fixed length of time it is contracted to run.
The existing systems allows train operating companies to run services as government franchises under fixed-term contracts. When those contracts ended or reached a break, they would be re-negotiated, but Labour now plans to bring all rail services back under national control.
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Under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which passed last week, the government will set up a new arms-length body, Great British Railways (GBR), which will take over service contracts currently held by private firms as they expire in the coming years.
It also eventually wants GBR to take over responsibility for maintaining and improving rail infrastructure from Network Rail.
The aim, according to new Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in the BBC’s article, is to “improve reliability and clamp down on the delays, the cancellations, the waste and the inefficiency we’ve seen over the last 30 years.”
Sadly, it seems the change may not lead to reduced fares; Ms Alexander would not answer questions on that subject.
After privatisation, the rail firms were slowly taken over, mostly by companies that were wholly owned by foreign governments in EU countries. This meant rail fares in the UK were inflated in order to subsidise services on the continent.
If fares do not fall as a result of this change, one may reasonably conclude that the UK government (as the ultimate owner of rail services) will benefit – so we should ask what Keir Starmer plans to do with the cash.
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Rail re-nationalisation begins next year with three firms
Its good news for train passengers as rail re-nationalisation begins next year with three firms – South Western Railways (May 2025), C2C (July 2025) and Greater Anglian (Autumn 2025).
This will begin to bring the Labour Party’s promise to bring all rail franchises back under public control within the five years of the current Parliament, as each private franchise comes to the end of the fixed length of time it is contracted to run.
The existing systems allows train operating companies to run services as government franchises under fixed-term contracts. When those contracts ended or reached a break, they would be re-negotiated, but Labour now plans to bring all rail services back under national control.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which passed last week, the government will set up a new arms-length body, Great British Railways (GBR), which will take over service contracts currently held by private firms as they expire in the coming years.
It also eventually wants GBR to take over responsibility for maintaining and improving rail infrastructure from Network Rail.
The aim, according to new Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in the BBC’s article, is to “improve reliability and clamp down on the delays, the cancellations, the waste and the inefficiency we’ve seen over the last 30 years.”
Sadly, it seems the change may not lead to reduced fares; Ms Alexander would not answer questions on that subject.
After privatisation, the rail firms were slowly taken over, mostly by companies that were wholly owned by foreign governments in EU countries. This meant rail fares in the UK were inflated in order to subsidise services on the continent.
If fares do not fall as a result of this change, one may reasonably conclude that the UK government (as the ultimate owner of rail services) will benefit – so we should ask what Keir Starmer plans to do with the cash.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
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Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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