The money-spinning Elizabeth line will not be nationalised under Government’s plan to bring the UK’s railways back under public control, it has been confirmed.
Both the “Lizzie line” and the London Overground will continue to operate as “concessions” run by private rail firms under contract to Transport for London, TfL and the Department for Transport told the Evening Standard.
This means that TfL will press ahead with the re-tendering of a new £3bn seven-year contract to run the Elizabeth line. Four bidders have been shortlisted and the winner is due to be announced early next year.
Green MP Sian Berry, a former candidate for mayor of London, had suggested bringing the Elizabeth line and Overground fully “in house”, which would mean TfL employing all staff directly and keeping all the profits, as happens with the London Underground.
MTR, the firm that currently operates the Elizabeth line, generated £291 million in revenue from the £20bn line in the year to March 2023, making a pre-tax profit of £4.1 million.
Ms Berry, the new MP for Brighton Pavilion, told the Commons: “For passengers, hearing the Government promise to bring private operators into public hands, but then hearing that a service they use will be excluded, will be a disappointment.”
But transport minister Simon Lightwood said the Passenger Railway Services Bill that aims to bring the remaining 10 national rail franchises – now run as national rail contracts – under State control would give “local leaders” such as London mayor Sadiq Khan “a statutory role in governing, managing, planning and developing the rail network”, though not necessarily the right to gain control of extra services.
Mr Lightwood said: “How to secure the delivery of services in those areas will remain a matter for local leaders.”
Mr Khan is keen for TfL to take control of metro services within the Greater London boundary that are currently run by Southeastern and Great Northern.
A TfL spokesman said its concessions were “very different” to the franchise arrangements between private rail firms and the DfT, with more of a partnership approach and greater accountability under powers previously devolved to the mayor.
MTR has been shortlisted for the new Elizabeth line contract, which starts in May next year, alongside Arriva – which operates the Overground – and two new joint ventures, First Keolis Elizabeth line and GTS Rail Operations Limited.
There were more than 220m journeys on the Elizabeth line in 2023/24, boosting TfL’s overall passenger numbers by nine per cent.
Last week a major report said the absence of toilets on Elizabeth line trains may have been a factor in passengers forcing opening the doors when stranded for up to five hours in a major incident last December.
It is unclear with franchises will be the first to be nationalised. Helen Whately, the Tory shadow transport secretary, claims Greater Anglia is the first “in the crosshairs” as it is the most punctual railway in the country.
Its contract runs until September 2026 but with a break clause, in which the Transport Secretary can give three months notice of ending the contract under certain circumstances, in September this year – though the rail bill is not expected to become law until the end of the year.
Chiltern Railway and the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise have core terms ending on April 1 next year, so may be the first to be nationalised. This would see them brought under the control of Great British Railways.
However, if Ministers allow the contracts to run to their full terms, South Western Railway, which expires on May 25 next year, and C2C, which expires on July 20 next year, could be the first.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said there was “no doubt” that South Western Railway would be brought under State control, saying that “ideally” all 10 franchises would within three years of the bill receiving Royal Assent.
