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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 amended.
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.