60% of railway journeys nationalised by next May

THE proportion of train journeys in Britain on services run by the public sector has hit 40%.

- NEIL LANCEFIELD & IAN JONES

Analysis by the PA news agency found the figure has been reached with Greater Anglia becoming the third operator to be nationalised by the Labour Government.

The calculation was based on Office of Rail and Road data for journeys made in the year to the end of March.

South Western Railway was brought under public ownership in May, followed by c2c in July.

Northern, TransPennine Express, Southeastern and LNER were nationalised under the Conservative government because of performance failings, while ScotRail and Transport for Wales are owned by the Scottish and Welsh Governments respectively.

The action with LNER in June 2018 ended a period when all operators in Britain were privately-owned.

Labour is renationalising all operators as part of an overhaul of the railways. By the end of next May - at which point Govia Thameslink Railway and West Midlands Trains will have been taken into public control - the proportion of journeys on nationalised trains will have risen to 61%.