Most of Great Britain's major rail operators are now in public hands, as the Labour government pushes forward with its plan to make the railways more reliable, affordable, and accessible. The nationalisation of Govia Thameslink on 31 May 2026 marks the eleventh major passenger service to return to public ownership, leaving five operators to go before the government's 2027 deadline. This rollout, which sees an operator nationalised roughly every three months, is gradually ending a privatised system that critics argue has been overly fragmented and profit-focused, to the detriment of passenger experience.
Several operators were already under public ownership when Labour was elected in 2024, having been nationalised by the Conservatives due to financial woes and poor performance. Transport for Wales and ScotRail were also nationalised by their devolved governments in 2021 and 2022 respectively. However, under Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, the Department for Transport (DfT) has accelerated the pace, bringing five operators onto the public books since May 2025: South Western Railway, C2C, Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains, and Govia Thameslink.
State of Play, June 2026
Eleven of the 16 major rail operators in Britain are now in public ownership. The government has stated that the remaining five will be nationalised by October 2027. The most recent nationalisation was Govia Thameslink on 31 May 2026, with the next operator set to be nationalised in September 2026. These nationalisations come ahead of the establishment of a new state-controlled company, Great British Railways, expected this year, which will manage rail infrastructure and services.
The DfT describes Great British Railways as a single directing mind for bringing track and train together, putting passengers and customers first, and rebuilding trust in the railway. It will soon manage most publicly owned operators in Great Britain, combining them with Network Rail, which owns the tracks, signals, and major stations. However, Great Britain's trains will remain privately owned.
Industry insiders have expressed cautious optimism about Labour's plans, highlighting the potential for Great British Railways to achieve more coordination and efficiency. However, experts warn that nationalisation alone may not fix all of Britain's rail problems, given ballooning costs. Stephen Glaister, emeritus professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London and former chair of the Office of Rail and Road, said: Irrespective of the ownership changes, the government has a major headache with rail gobbling up so much public subsidy, and that is before you get to HS2. The government is making promises to make fares even cheaper and services even better, but both will cost more public money.
Performance Under Nationalisation
The data on nationalised operators so far offers a mixed picture. Several have experienced improving train punctuality and reduced cancellations, but the performance of others has worsened over the past year. LNER has been one of the most improved, and in June 2026, Rail Minister Peter Hendy described it as a blueprint for wider renationalisation efforts. A chart showing changes in delays and cancellations by rail operator from August 2024 to the latest available data indicates varied results, with some operators showing improvement and others decline.
When Will the Next Operators Be Nationalised?
Labour committed to bringing rail into public ownership in its 2024 election manifesto, claiming it had a way to nationalise trains without costing taxpayers a penny in compensation. Instead of an all-at-once approach, the government is running down the clock on existing rail contracts. The DfT waits for each operator's core contract expiry date, allowing the government to take over without compensating private companies. The final operator to expire is CrossCountry in October 2027, marking the completion of rail nationalisation in Great Britain. Until then, the government plans to nationalise one operator per annual quarter, with Govia Thameslink due next in May 2026.
Labour's one-at-a-time approach builds on the work of its predecessors. Several operators, including LNER, Northern, and Southeastern, were brought into public ownership by the Conservatives from 2018 onwards as emergency measures due to financial difficulties or poor performance. ScotRail and Transport for Wales were nationalised by their devolved governments and are not expected to merge into Great British Railways.
Marcus Mayers, managing director of the Rail and Station Innovation Company, said: You cannot do it in one go. If you try to merge 22 companies at once, you do not have the ability to build the system and join it together that quickly. So you build an operation capable of ingesting organisations at a rate of one every three months. That makes sense.
Will Nationalisation Improve the Railways?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said his government is not nationalising rail out of ideology but for what it can deliver for passengers. He stated in April 2024: We have tried privatisation for two or three decades, and it is a complete mess. Everybody who travels on the trains has been affected by cancellations and delays. Privatisation was undertaken by the Conservatives in the 1990s after decades of falling ridership under British Rail. From 1948, annual journeys fell from a peak of over 1 billion in 1950 to a low of 0.6 billion in 1982. After privatisation, rail journeys recovered significantly, reaching a new peak of 1.7 billion by 2017.
However, the impact on other aspects of train travel has been mixed. One original selling point of privatisation was that competition for franchises would bring better value for taxpayers. While the industry remained subsidised overall, some major commuter franchises paid a return. Yet in recent years, after huge falls in passenger numbers during the pandemic, government subsidy to operators has ballooned to record levels. Glaister noted: The government is still forking out £12 billion on operational subsidy, plus HS2 is another £7 billion, plus extracurricular investment projects on the existing railways. That is a very great deal of money in the context of the public expenditure crisis.
Costs have risen for passengers too. Rail fares have become less affordable since privatisation, rising faster than average earnings. Today, a 50km (31-mile) journey costs about £8.90, based on revenue per kilometre. Adjusted for inflation, the same journey would have cost £7.54 in 1994. The rising cost comes amid widespread dissatisfaction with reliability. Last year was the worst year for cancellations nationally since 2015, according to the Office of Rail and Road.
Labour has pledged to improve reliability and affordability with nationalisation, banking on a unified Great British Railways to end the fragmented system. Mayers said: It is possible, because there are efficiencies of integration of track and train, which might mean problems get solved more quickly. You may be taking out the commercial imperative to drive reliability, but you also have more collaboration about how to achieve it. It is a fine balance, and whether it will work or not is still open for debate. Others are sceptical. Glaister said: Governments frequently say they will make railways more efficient, buy new equipment, and employ fewer people. But the industry has been trying that for years, and regulators screw down to the absolute bottom. I do not think there are many undiscovered efficiencies to go for.
A DfT spokesperson said: Through public ownership and the creation of Great British Railways, the government is fundamentally reforming how our railways are run, putting passengers first. Public ownership will deliver a railway that is more accountable, efficient, and reliable, resulting in greater opportunities for communities and significant growth. It is not a silver bullet, and issues inherited from private sector ownership will take time to root out, but we expect public sector operators and Great British Railways once established to focus relentlessly on improving reliability, punctuality, and other aspects of the service that matter most to passengers, and we will hold them to account for doing so.
All 16 rail operators were contacted for comment for this piece.
