A week is a long time in the Department for Transport (DfT). Last Thursday, the then-transport secretary, Louise Haigh, welcomed Royal Assent being given to the Public Ownership Bill. This is the law that aims to renationalise the railways. Ms Haigh called it “a huge win for frustrated passengers up and down the country”.
The minister, who styled herself the passenger-in-chief, said: “For far too long, passengers have faced unacceptable levels of delays, cancellations and unreliability under a fragmented, privatised system – but not on my watch.”
Her watch was to last less than a day. Within hours of the announcement, Ms Haigh had resigned after revelations about a fraud case involving a mobile phone. Her replacement as transport secretary is Heidi Alexander. Within six days, the new incumbent has revealed the first three train operators to be brought back into public ownership.
“Starting with journeys on South Western Railway [SWR], we’re switching tracks by bringing services back under public control to create a reliable rail network that puts customers first,” said Ms Alexander.
SWR is the busy and complex operation running from London Waterloo to the southwest suburbs of the capital into Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Dorset. One route makes it as far as Exeter in Devon, and SWR also runs the short line on the Isle of Wight.
By May 2025, First Group and MTR (which runs the Hong Kong Metro) will be on a one-way journey to railway oblivion. Within a few months, two more train operators will be on their way out: C2C, shuttling between London and south Essex; and Greater Anglia, a big network that covers East Anglia and includes the Stansted Express.
The government promises:
- Improved reliability, which will “turn the page on decades of delays, fragmentation and failure”.
- Saving up to £150m a year in payments currently made to private shareholders.
“Our broken railways are finally on the fast track to repair,” says Ms Alexander.
If the giant First Group, with decades of experience as a transport operator, and a vast Asian enterprise are being kicked out, who will be running the show?
The DfT, which is currently already in charge of some leading train operators: LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express. They are currently in the hands of an organisation catchily called…
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