The
Passenger
Railway
Services
(Public
Ownership)
Act


has
received
Royal
Assent,
and
it
means
that
public
ownership
of
the
former
passenger
franchises
is
now
the
default,
rather
than
the
last
resort.

Some
parts
of
the
1993
Railways
Act,
which
privatised
the
railway,
have
been
repealed.

The
first


National
Rail
Contracts
which
are
now
set
to
be
renationalised
are
Chiltern
Railways
and
Govia
Thameslink
Railway,
which
both
reach
break
points,
also
known
as
core
expiry
dates,
on
1
April
2025.

The
last
DfT
contract
to
be
ended
is
likely
to
be


CrossCountry,
which
is
set
to
be
terminated
on
17
October
2027,
when
its
core
term
ends.

The
Government
is
reserving
the
right
to
terminate
contracts
more
quickly
if
the
terms
of
the
contract
have
been
breached.

Another
Act
will
be
needed
to
create


Great
British
Railways
in
full,
when
it
will
become
the
operator.
Until
then,
the
DfT’s
Operator
of
Last
Resort
will
take
over.
It
already
runs
LNER,
Northern,
TransPennine
Express
and
Southeastern.
Three
more
operators
are
run
by
the
devolved
governments
in
Scotland
and
Wales,
including
Caledonian
Sleeper.

Private
sector
lobby
group
Rail
Partners
has
consistently
opposed
renationalisation.

Its
chief
executive
Andy
Bagnall
said:
‘Royal
Assent
of
the
Passenger
Railway
Services
(Public
Ownership)
Act
is
a
watershed
moment
that
means
the
Government
has
now
assumed
direct
responsibility
for
improving
Britain’s
railways,
but
simply
changing
who
runs
the
trains
won’t
mean
more
reliable
or
affordable
services
for
passengers.

‘This
Act
is
political
not
practical.
It
is
counter
intuitive
to
remove
the
private
sector
from
the
railways
when
it
is
the
only
part
of
the
system
with
a
track
record
of
delivering
growth
in
passenger
numbers
to
reduce
subsidy
–
especially
when
answering
the
question
of
what
will
replace
it
is
being
parked
until
further
rail
legislation
next
year.’

It
has
already
been
reported
that
Rail
Partners
itself
is
to
be
wound
up
in
April
2025.