Title: Would it be realistic to renationalise the railways? - BBC News
Headings: Would it be realistic to renationalise the railways?
Would it be realistic to renationalise the railways?
Nationalisation of the railways
Rail services around the world
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Content: Once these have expired the government could get them back at no cost to the taxpayer. Most of the franchises expire during the next parliament, which runs until May 2020. The exceptions are East Coast (2023), Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, Chiltern (2021), and Essex Thameside - branded C2C - (2029). If a government wanted the process to be quicker - or to avoid a mixed system - it's hard to say how much buying out the private sector would cost. Mark Smith, who used to set fares at the Department of Transport and now runs the website The Man in Seat 61, says you could estimate what payouts would be needed by looking at each franchise's annual profits and then multiplying by how many years are left on it. The rail industry says about £250m is made in profits by the franchisees each year, about 3% of turnover. image copyright
British Rail
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The British Rail Class 47 locomotive 2
There's also the question of UK and European Union legislation. The Railways Act 1993 states that the public sector cannot bid for franchises. Either a totally new act would be needed to oversee nationalisation or there would need to be significant amendments to the existing act. The EU says it wants to open up national freight and passenger markets to cross-border competition.