Labour lays out plans to renationalise UK's railways

Labour promised to renationalise the UK’s railway network within five years of taking office on Thursday, in a bid to address the system’s challenges without compensating its existing private operators.

The Labour Party said it would create a publicly owned entity, Great British Railways, to take over passenger rail contracts currently held by private companies as they expire.

It would be the most significant overhaul of the railway system in decades, according to Reuters, reversing the controversial privatisation of the network initiated by John Major’s Tory government in the 1990s and continued under Tony Blair’s Labour administration.

Shares in rail ticket agency Trainline were down on the news, on the likelihood that a nationalised operator would lead to a simpler ticketing system and a single official booking platform, potentially undermining Trainline’s attractiveness to passengers.

Reuters said almost 70% of voters supported renationalisation, according to a recent YouGov poll.

The current Conservative government, led by prime minister Rishi Sunak, had also proposed establishing a new Great British Railways (GBR) company, although with a different operational framework that would still see private operators being contracted to run services.

Recent data indicated that cancellations in the final quarter of 2023 reached unprecedented levels since records began in 2018, with labour disputes and strikes contributing to some of the disruptions.

Labour proposed the establishment of a Passenger Standards Authority to oversee GBR's performance, along with introducing price guarantees for future fares to alleviate financial burdens on passengers.

At 1010 BST, shares in Trainline were down 7.08% at 318.71p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.