Three rail operators will be renationalised by Labour next year, but the move is not expected to bring down fares for passengers travelling on these lines.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she recognised that “affordability is really important to people” but that people were “willing to pay for a good service”.
It comes as the government confirmed South Western Railway will be renationalised in May 2025, C2C in July 2025, and Greater Anglia in autumn 2025, after Labour passed a law allowing it to do so.
But some have criticised the plans, arguing that public ownership will not make much difference unless it is paired with fresh investment in the railways.
What does nationalise mean?
The move is part of Labour’s wider plans to renationalise rail services as operators’ contracts either end or reach a break.
Under the existing system, Britain’s railway lines are run by train operating companies as franchises for a fixed length of time.
Northern Ireland’s rail system has remained nationalised since 1948.
The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which passed last week, allows the government to act on its manifesto promise to take rail contracts back into public ownership in five years as each private franchise runs out.
The government also plans to 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 wants GBR to take over responsibility for maintaining and improving rail infrastructure from Network Rail eventually.
What will it mean for train ticket prices?
Rail fares are due to rise by 4.6% from March as set out in the recent Budget, a figure that the transport secretary repeated when asked if tickets will get cheaper with public ownership.
She described this as “the lowest absolute increase for the last three years”.
Ms Alexander added that it while people may be willing to pay more for a “really good” service, including at evenings and weekends, performance had to improve.
The transport department said that renationalisation would improve reliability, boost economic growth, and save £150m per year in fees.
“We need to bring these train companies into public ownership, and so we want to turn the page on 30 years of failure,” Ms Alexander told BBC Breakfast.
“The primary aim of this is to improve reliability and clamp down on the delays, the cancellation, the waste and the inefficiency that we’ve seen,” she said.
Giving the example of LNER, she said that the department has “reduced the number of trains that are cancelled due to staff shortages to basically zero”.
However, Rail Partners, which represents private train firms, said Labour has “parked the big decisions” on how to fix the railways.
“Simply changing who runs the trains won’t deliver more reliable and affordable services for passengers, reduce subsidy for taxpayers, or grow rail freight,” said chief executive Andy Bagnall.
Responsibility for running train services was handed to private companies during the 1990s, and since then there has been a boom in rail usage.
But a number have faced criticism over both fares and reliability, with critics saying privatisation has led to an inefficient and fragmented system.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the government in effect took control of much of the railways.
Several train companies in England moved onto contracts where they get a fixed fee to run services, and the taxpayer carries the financial risk.
Four major operators – East Coast Mainline, TransPennine, Northern and South Eastern – have been taken under public control and are being run by the government’s operator of last resort.
Transport for Wales was brought under Welsh Government control in 2021, and Scotrail was taken over by the Scottish Government the following year.
South Western Railway has more than 1,500 services scheduled to run per weekday in south west London and the south of England.
It operates across southern England and is a key commuter service into London.
Train operator c2c runs services between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, and serves 26 stations in east London and south Essex.
Greater Anglia runs services between London, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire and Essex.
The rail system has also faced strain under two years of strike action across England, Scotland and Wales.
In September, train drivers accepted a pay deal that sought to bring an end to the row over remuneration and working conditions.
Ms Alexander also addressed the deal on BBC Breakfast and said it was “absolutely imperative that we found a way to break the deadlock” and felt it was important to “reset the relationships” with trade unions.
