ON July 20 c2c commuter services between London and Southend in Essex returned to public ownership, with the end of the full term of the National Rail Contract (NRC) held by FS Group subsidiary Trenitalia.

With a fleet of 86 EMUs, c2c operates 322 trains a day and serves 26 stations, principally on the line from London Fenchurch Street to Southend and Shoeburyness. A total of 37.3 million passenger-journeys were recorded in 2024-25, up 4% on the year before, with passenger-km at c2c also up 4% year-on-year at 872 million.

Trenitalia began operating c2c in 2017, and during its tenure implemented a £100m fleet modernisation programme that included the introduction of 10 new Alstom EMUs. Other improvements included the introduction of contactless ticketing and the deployment of Trenitalia’s PICO system to replace legacy ticketing systems.

Following the end of the NRC, c2c has become the sixth passenger operator to transfer to Department for Transport Operator (DFTO), which is responsible for over 28% of the national passenger network. DFTO now has over 24,000 employees, operating over 6500 services a day and almost 800 passenger-km a year.

With Northern, TransPennine Express (TPE), Southeastern, and London North Eastern Railway (LNER) already in the public sector, on May 25 South Western Railway (SWR) became the first to transfer from the private sector under new legislation passed in November 2024.

Following SWR and c2c, Greater Anglia will be the next operator to transfer on October 12. Passenger operations will eventually be reintegrated with infrastructure management under the new Great British Railways (GBR), expected to come into being in 2027 under the Railways Bill which will be introduced to Parliament later this year.

Meanwhile, DFTO is working to standardise policy and practice in areas such as compensation for delays, how operators deal with passengers travelling on an invalid ticket, and cross-acceptance of tickets during disruption at no additional cost. As well as reducing fragmentation, DfT says that public ownership “will save the taxpayer up to £150m a year in fees alone and ensure every penny can be spent for the benefit of passengers.”

“We now have a golden opportunity to collaborate with the wider family of publicly-owned operators, sharing our successes and best practice,” says c2c managing director, Rob Mullen.

“As the franchise moves to public ownership, we acknowledge both the progress made and the ongoing challenges of unifying a fragmented rail industry,” says Trenitalia UK managing director, Ernesto Sicilia.

“In the meantime, we will continue to support and deliver services on the Avanti West Coast franchise until it too transitions to public ownership in 2026.”