Labour brings c2c into public ownership – What does this mean for you?

Rail services between London and Essex have been brought into government ownership following the nationalisation of a second train operator.

On Sunday, c2c became the latest train operating company to be publicly owned as part of Labour’s scheme, which will eventually see the creation of Great British Railways.

The change means services from Fenchurch Street station on the London, Tilbury and Southend line are now in public hands.

It was owned by Italian state-owned rail operator Trenitalia, which purchased the franchise from National Express in 2017.

At the time of the takeover, c2c had one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the country at 89 per cent.

This was the joint sixth best performance out of 22 operators.

Although the second operator to be brought into public hands, c2c will be the sixth train company managed by the Department for Transport (DfT), which is now in charge of 40 per cent of all rail journeys.

As well as c2c, Department for Transport Operator (DfTO) now runs TransPennine Express, LNER, Northern, Southeastern and South Western Railway, the latter which became the first directly state operated network in February.

c2c will soon be joined by neighbouring operator Greater Anglia, which is due to be nationalised in October.

Labour’s train nationalisation

In its 2024 manifesto, Labour promised to bring railways back into the public sector following years of complaints from passengers about high fares and poor service.

The Labour scheme also includes taking over responsibility for managing rail infrastructure, including stations and lines currently handled by Network Rail.

Following the privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, rail services were franchised out to a variety of private firms.

However, despite an initially positive reaction, public support began to tilt in favour of a return to government ownership amid grievances with overcrowding, increasing fares and unreliable services.

Concerns over poor performance of private operators led the previous government to take control of LNER, Northern, Transpennine Express and Southeastern via operators of last resort.

Labour says the new nationalised network will help standardise the service, improve reliability and cut costs for travellers.

c2c followed South Western Railway in returning to public hands, having previously been operated by National Express before being acquired by Trenitalia.

The Italian state operator will continue to have a foothold in British railways through its stake in Avanti West Coast, until that goes public next year.

Speaking about the latest step, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: ‘Whether you’re shopping in Lakeside or walking along the beach in Southend-on-Sea, from today you will be able to get there on a train service run by the public, for the public.

‘Public ownership is already tackling deep-rooted problems we see on the railway that’s led to spiralling costs, fragmentation and waste.

‘A unified network under Great British Railways will take this further with one railway under one brand with one mission – delivering excellent services for passengers wherever they travel.’

However one highly profitable aspect of the railway is likely to stay in private hands – the trains themselves.

Rolling stock has for three decades been controlled by Rolling Stock Companies or ROSCOS, dominated by three major players, Eversholt Rail Group, Porterbrook and Angel Trains.

Due to the prohibitive cost of buying the stock back, Great British Railways will instead lease the trains from these firms for the foreseeable future, trade publication Railtech reported.

This means that the fees from use of the trains will remain in the private sector.

What will change with c2c under public ownership?

Under its public ownership scheme, Labour has promised better quality and more reliable services.

While the branding of services will remain the same for now, passengers can expect some changes to how they operate.

For example, tickets will be valid for all publicly-owned services, meaningin the event of major disruption or line closure, passengers can travel on other routes without extra charge.

This already works in the North West, where commuters are able to switch between Northern and TransPennine Express services, both of which are operated by DfT.

For c2c passengers, the benefits may become more visible after the neighbouring Greater Anglia network is nationalised in October.

In addition, the Government says it will leverage the new control to increase services and capacity on some routes.

As well as improvements to services, ministers and rail bosses say public ownership will save the taxpayer up to £150 million each year.

Rob Mullen, the managing director of c2c, said: ‘A unified and focused railway can deliver more for our communities, including better growth, jobs and houses. If we are thriving as a train operator it helps our communities to thrive.

‘This is the positive feedback loop we are excited to deliver, supported by better and closer collaboration with our partners in the lead up to GBR.’

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