His
Majesty
the
King


is
expected
to
give
contracted
private
passenger
train
operators
their
notice
today,
as
he
presents
the
government’s
legislative
programme
in
the
House
of
Lords
following
the
Labour
landslide
in
the
general
election
on
4
July.

It
has
been
reported
that
the
King’s
Speech
will
include
35
bills,
one
of
which
will
create
the
new
‘directing
mind’,
Great
British
Railways.
GBR
will
have
the
power
to
take
control
of
the
present
National
Rail
Contracts
when
they
expire,
reach
a
break
point
or
are
terminated
early
for
breach
of
contract.

The
end
of
the
line
for
the
remaining
private
sector
contracts
will
be
formally
announced
more
than
28
years
since
the
first
franchises
were
awarded
in
December
1995,
as
part
of
railway
privatisation
under
John
Major’s
Conservative
government.

Since
then
a
total
of
97
passenger
contracts
have
been
launched,
suspended,
terminated
early
or
been
allowed
to
run
to
their
full
term.
Nearly
all
were
controlled
by
the
private
sector.

The
first
franchises
to
take
over
from
British
Rail
were
First
Great
Western
and
South
West
Trains,
which
both
started
on
4
February
1996.
The
last
franchise
to
be
launched
was
Avanti
West
Coast,
on
8
December
2019,
when
it
replaced
Virgin
Trains
West
Coast.

The
Covid
pandemic
meant
that
the
government
had
to
step
in,
because
the
franchises
would
not
have
been
able
to
survive
when
passenger
figures
fell
dramatically
as
one
result
of
the
‘stay
at
home’
rule
imposed
in
March
2020.

In
September
of
that
year
transport
secretary
Grant
Shapps
announced
that
the
traditional
franchises
would
not
be
revived.
Since
then,
just
over
half
of
the
operators
have
been
given
a
form
of
management
contract.
The
government
collects
the
revenue
and
pays
the
costs,
giving
each
operator
a
management
fee.

However,
seven
operators
have
already
been
renationalised,
starting
with
LNER
on
24
June
2018.
This
followed
the
collapse
of
the
Virgin
Trains
East
Coast
franchise,
90
per
cent
of
which
had
been
owned
by
Stagecoach.
The
contract
had
lasted
for
just
over
three
years.

Other
English
contracts
renationalised
since
then
have
been
Northern,
Southeastern
and
TransPennine
Express,
while
the
devolved
governments
in
Scotland
and
Wales
have
also
taken
back
control
of
Caledonian
Sleeper,
ScotRail
and
Wales
&
Borders,
which
is
now
Transport
for
Wales.

Under
present
plans,
the
private
sector
will
be
allowed
to
continue
running
open
access
services
and
charter
trains.

The
August
edition
of
Railnews
will
include
a
major
feature
comparing
today’s
proposed
renationalisation
of
the
passenger
railway
with
the
original
creation
of
the
British
Transport
Commission
in
1948,
and
also
a
chart
to
allow
readers
to
track
the
progress
of
nationalisation.