BRITAIN’s Department of Transport (DfT) says that half of the country’s passenger operators have returned to public ownership, following the most recent transfer, of Greater Anglia, on October 12.
Greater Anglia, which runs services in eastern England, including to and from Norwich and Ipswich, is the third passenger operator to return to public ownership this year, following the transfer of South Western Railway (SWR) and c2c in May and July respectively.
Last month DfT announced the next four operators to transfer to government ownership. West Midlands Trains (WMT) and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) will return to public ownership in February and May next year respectively, while dates for Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railway (GWR) have not yet been confirmed.
“We’re reforming a fragmented system and laying the foundations for a more reliable, efficient and accountable railway – one that puts passengers first and delivers the high standards they rightly expect,” says transport secretary, Heidi Alexander.
Services that have been returned to public ownership are currently being run by a temporary government-owned company, DfT Operator, ahead of their integration into new operations and infrastructure body Great British Railways (GBR) which the government is aiming to establish within the current session of parliament.
Integrated teams
Ahead of the creation of GBR, integrated leadership teams are being set up across publicly-owned passenger operators and infrastructure manager Network Rail’s routes to increase collaboration and accountability.
The Anglia region will be led by Jamie Burles, who has been named integrated managing director (designate). He will identify opportunities to join up infrastructure management with train operation and establish a unified single executive leadership team bringing together Network Rail Anglia, c2c and Greater Anglia across East Anglia.
