More
than
half

the
length
of
routes
served
by
former
passenger
franchises
will
have
been
returned
to
public
ownership
next
month,
when
Caledonian
Sleeper
will
become
the
seventh
operator
to
be
renationalised
over
the
past
five
years.
LNER
took
over
from
the
failed
Virgin
Trains
East
Coast
on
24
June
2018,
and
has
since
been
followed
by
Northern,
Southeastern
and,
on
28
May,
TransPennine
Express.
ScotRail
and
Transport
for
Wales
are
also
now
controlled
by
their
devolved
governments.

After
Caledonian
Sleeper
is
transferred
from
Serco
to
the
Scottish
Government
on
25
June,
13,093
route
kilometres
will
be
worked
by
seven
nationalised
operators,
four
of
which
are
based
in
England. 

The
ten
companies
still
in
the
private
sector,
operating
under
government
contracts,
will
cover
11,671
route
kilometres,
or
47.1
per
cent
of
National
Rail.

Railnews
has
published
this
analysis
as
speculation
grows
that
Prime
Minister
Rishi
Sunak
does
not
see
railway
reform
and
the
creation
of
Great
British
Railways
as
a
priority
in
the
next
session
of
Parliament,
which
will
be
the
last
before
a
General
Election.

If
so,
time
is
unlikely
to
be
found
for
the
necessary
legislation
to
allow
GBR
to
take
over
most
of
the
responsibilities
of
the
Department
for
Transport,
including
awarding
tightly
controlled
operating
contracts,
and
also
absorbing
Network
Rail.

The
proposed
changes
were
set
out
in
detail
in
the
2021
Plan
for
Rail
by
Keith
Williams
and
transport
secretary
Grant
Shapps,
when
Boris
Johnson
was
prime
minister.
Derby
was
named
as
the
headquarters
of
GBR
as
recently
as
March
this
year.