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: A YouGov survey in May 2014 suggested that the public supported renationalisation by a margin of 60% - 20%. But how easy would it be to renationalise the railways? Not difficult at all, says James Abbott, editor of Modern Railways. Network Rail, which manages the track, is already in public hands. The train companies have time-limited franchises. 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.