After 30 years of failure, Labour begins process of renationalising rail

Topline:

MPs are set to debate the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill – which will see private rail franchises taken into public ownership after 30 years of failure.

Key facts:

A Bill to make provision for passenger railway services to be provided by public sector companies will be debated in parliament today
It marks the first step towards renationalising rail in Britain
And comes more than 30 years since the Railways Act of 1993 was passed under the John Major administration

After 30 years of failure, the Labour Party will take the first step towards renationalising rail today as the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill gets debated in parliament.

Transport secretary Louise Haigh announced that more train services will be brought under public ownership from “early next year” as public sector train operators get appointed as private companies’ existing contracts expire.

That will be the default position for all contracts once the legislation is passed, which it is expected to do so thanks to Labour whopping parliamentary majority.

When was rail in Britain privatised?

It was under Thatcher’s successor John Major that the railways themselves were privatised.

Under the Railways Act 1993, the operations of the British Railways Board were broken up and sold off to various parties while various regulatory functions were transferred to the newly created office of the Rail Regulator.

Ownership of the infrastructure, including the larger stations, passed to the new privately owned company Railtrack, while track maintenance and renewal assets were sold to 13 companies across the network.

Ownership of the passenger trains themselves passed to three rolling stock companies (ROSCOs) – the stock being leased out to passenger train operating companies (TOCs) awarded contracts through a new system of rail franchising overseen by the Office of Passenger Rail Franchising (OPRAF).

Has it ever been popular?

The short answer is, no.

As Andrew Fisher points out on X, public opinion was against privatisation of British Rail 30 years ago, and has remained against it ever since.

Only water receives more support for renationalising.

How long will it take for rail in Britain to be entirely nationalised?

The new Bill, if passed, dictates that train services will be brought under public ownership as private companies’ existing contracts expire.

The Conservative government awarded Avanti West Coast – owned by FirstGroup and Trenitalia – a new contract starting in October last year.

Office of Rail and Road figures show Avanti West Coast had the third worst reliability of all operators in Britain in the year to the end of March, with the equivalent of one in 15 trains (6.9 per cent) cancelled.

Four of the Department for Transport’s rail contracts are already operated in the public sector after private companies were stripped of control because of poor performance.

They are London North Eastern Railway, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express.

Of the remaining 10, their contracts can be ended at various points up to October 2027.

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.