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The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest railway system in the world. The first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825, which was followed by an era of rapid expansion. Most of the track is managed by Network Rail, which in 2017 had a network of 9,824 miles (15,811 km) of standard-gauge lines, of which 3,339 miles (5,374 km) were electrified. In addition, some cities have separate metro, light rail and tram systems, among them the historic London Underground and the Glasgow Subway. There are also many private railways, some of them narrow-gauge, which are primarily short lines for tourists. The main rail network is connected with that of continental Europe by the Channel Tunnel and High Speed 1, opened in 1994 and 2007 respectively.
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in January 1963, when it was formally renamed the British Railways Board.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is the busiest in the European Union, and the third busiest in the world after Switzerland and Japan.
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industry was in part motivated by the enactment of EU Directive 91/440 in 1991, which aimed to create a more efficient railway network by creating greater competition.
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company operates transport services in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
In the railway system of Great Britain, a train operating company (TOC) is a railway undertaking operating passenger trains under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the privatisation of the network under the Railways Act 1993.
Railway nationalisation is the act of taking rail transport assets into public ownership. Several countries have at different times nationalised part or all of their railway system.
Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain is the system of contracting the operation of the passenger services on the railways of Great Britain to private companies, which has been in effect since 1996 and was greatly altered in 2020, with rail franchising being effectively abolished in May 2021. In 2024 rail franchising was formally abolished, with rail contracts set to enter government control at the expiration of their contracts from 2025 onwards.
Abellio is a Dutch public transport company that operates bus and rail services in Germany, and formerly also in Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. It is wholly owned by the Dutch national railway company, Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).
Greater Anglia is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city services from its central London terminus at London Liverpool Street to Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and parts of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, as well as many regional services throughout the East of England.
The East Anglia franchise is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the Great Eastern Main Line and West Anglia Main Lines in England. It commenced operating in April 2004 when the Anglia and Great Eastern franchises, together with the West Anglia part of the West Anglia Great Northern franchise, were combined to form the Greater Anglia franchise.
The impact of the privatisation of British Rail has been the subject of much debate, with the stated benefits including improved customer service, and more investment; and stated drawbacks including higher fares, lower punctuality and increased rail subsidies. The privatisation of British Rail began in the 1990s.
The Campaign to Bring Back British Rail is a pressure group in the United Kingdom whose objective is the renationalisation of the British Rail network, which was privatised in the 1990s. In addition to its representation of ordinary passengers, on whose behalf it campaigns for improvements to rail services, it undertakes research for the purpose of lobbying political parties towards the ends of reintroducing a vertically-integrated, publicly owned and operated British railway network. It has over 150,000 supporters UK wide, accumulated since it was founded in 2009, and is managed from two hubs - in Glasgow and London.
South Western Railway is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup (70%) and MTR Corporation (30%) that operates the South Western franchise.
An operator of last resort is a business in the United Kingdom that operates a railway franchise, on behalf of the government, when a train operating company (TOC) is no longer able to do so, and are nationalised on an interim basis. Since the last appointment in June 2023, there are now six such operators of seven rail services in England, Wales and Scotland. In December 2024, following new legislation in November, it was announced that the first of the remaining contracted TOCs would be taken back into public ownership in May 2025.
Northern Trains, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company owned by DfT Operator for the Department for Transport (DfT), after the previous operator Arriva Rail North had its franchise terminated at the end of February 2020.
Great British Railways (GBR) is a planned state-owned railway company that is to oversee passenger rail transport in Great Britain, with the exception of Transport for London, Merseytravel, light rail and tram services.
DfT Operator Limited (DFTO), formerly DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL), is a holding company established by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom to act as operator of last resort for rail franchises in England that are nationalised.
South Western Railway is a future train operating company that will take over the services of the operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR Corporation on 26 May 2025.
c2c is a future train operating company that will take over the services of the operator of the same name from Trenitalia on 20 July 2025.
References
- ↑ Labour promises rail nationalisation within five years of coming to power The Guardian 25 April 2024
- ↑ Labour pledges to renationalise most rail services within five years BBC News 26 April 2024
- ↑ Rail nationalisation takes a step closer under Starmer’s first major public reform in Commons victory The Independent 4 September 2024
- ↑ Government reveals first three operators to be renationalised after law change Railnews 4 December 2024
- ↑ South Western Railway, c2c and Greater Anglia to be nationalised in 2025 City AM 4 December 2024
- ↑ Operators to move in-house every three months Rail issue 1024 11 December 2024 page 14
- ↑ South Western Railway to return to public ownership Rail Express issue 344 January 2025 page 11
