Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has announced that passenger train operations will be transferred to government control at an average of one every three months.
The government confirmed on December 3 that South Western Railway (SWR), c2c and Greater Anglia (GA) will be the first firms to have its services transferred to DfT Operator Limited, previously known as DfT Operator of Last Resort Holdings Limited in 2025.
SWR will be the first, on May 25 when its national rail contract expires, followed by c2c on July 20 and GA in the autumn. GA’s contract runs until September 2026 after its core-term deal expired in September this year, but the government will activate a clause allowing it to end the agreement with a minimum of 12 weeks’ notice.
The announcement comes after the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act received Royal Assent in late November.
In a written statement to Parliament on December 4, Alexander said: “Following Greater Anglia, the programme will continue with the transfer of one operator’s services roughly every three months.
“We expect these to follow the order in which operators’ current contractual minimum terms expire unless a TOC defaults on its contract to the extent that there is a contractual right to terminate (in which case it will transfer as soon as reasonably practicable) or other extenuating circumstances arise.”
West Midlands Trains’ core term ended in September 2024, though the full term runs until September 2026.
Operators with core terms ending in 2025 include Chiltern (April 1), Govia Thameslink Railway (April 1) and Great Western Railway (June 22), with full-term deals running until December 12 2027, April 1 2028 and June 25 2028 respectively.
East Midlands Railway’s core term ends on October 18 2026, with a full-term end date of October 18 2030, with Avanti West Coast’s core and full-term dates ending in October 18 2026 and October 17 2032 respectively. CrossCountry has the last core-term end date of October 17 2027 and a full-term end date of October 12 2031.
It could mean the final privately-run passenger trains (excluding open access operators) being run in October 2027, 31-and-a-half years after South West Trains ran the first franchised service in February 1996.
The DfT is working with operators and Network Rail to display performance information at stations in a move that will provide “transparency” and ‘accountability’.
Alexander also told Parliament: “I will be monitoring very closely the performance of all existing train operators who run services under contract to the department and, as the government have made clear during the passage of the bill, we will not hesitate to take decisive action where an operator’s poor performance means that contractual conditions for early termination of a national rail contract are met.”
Andy Bagnall, Chief Executive of Rail Partners, said the government “has parked the big decisions” about fixing the railways until next year.
“Simply changing who runs the trains won’t deliver more reliable and affordable services for passengers, reduce subsidy for taxpayers, or grow rail freight,” he added.
“The key to both improving performance and holding down fares is restoring the railway to financial sustainability. It is counter intuitive to start removing private sector operators from the system, with their track record of delivering growth to reduce subsidy, when the question of what will replace them long-term won’t be answered until further rail legislation is introduced.”
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