Kirsty O’Connor/PA
More train services are set to be brought under public ownership from “early next year”, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said.
Effectively nationalising all train operation in Britain was a long-standing pledge for Labour while the party was in opposition.
The Government’s Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill was included in the King’s Speech on Wednesday, and had its first reading in the House of Commons on Thursday.
Once the legislation is passed, appointing a public sector train operator as private companies’ existing contracts expire will be the default position rather than a last resort.
Asked on a visit to a south London bus depot when this is likely to begin, Ms Haigh told the PA news agency: “We need the first piece of legislation on the books and we are aiming for royal assent certainly by the end of the year, and then we can issue the first contracts three months after that. So early next year.”
That means services run by Govia Thameslink Railway – which includes the Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern brands – and Chiltern Railways could be the first to be taken into public ownership, as their contracts have core terms ending on April 1 2025.
Avanti West Coast – whose contract has a core term running until October 18 2026 – could still have its services nationalised first if Ms Haigh takes action over its performance.
She summoned the company’s managing director Andy Mellors and Network Rail bosses for a meeting on Tuesday.
Ms Haigh said: “We are exploring options for Avanti. I had them in this week with Network Rail and made very clear that we wouldn’t tolerate the levels of performance that they’ve been providing on the West Coast for any longer.
“We obviously will eventually bring them into public ownership.
“But I think they can do better even whilst in the private sector and I’ve been really shocked at the levels of performance that the previous government tolerated and how much they let them off the hook.”
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.
Related: 5,500 prisoners to be freed early amid jail capacity crisis
