Good day my good friend.
This week has been a week when every possible issue that could be thrown my way has been. So I, in fact, wrote this on Wednesday with the idea of giving me a clear run until the end of the week to get the work done, with a bit of a tidy up of links done this morning if I had the time. So if this is slightly out of date, well, you know how the news works.
🚅Manifesto Commitment Achieved?
Greater Anglia moved into public ownership on 12 October 2025. That’s not theory, that’s done. And it’s part of a drum-beat that many people in the Labour Party, and many professionals will like to hear. Franchise contracts expiring, operators transferring, and Labour following through on its 2024 pledge to bring passenger rail into public hands.
The structure of public ownership of the railways in the UK - and by this I mean England, Scotland, and Wales, as Northern Irish Railways have always been publicly owners - is quite complex even if the goal is to make it simple. But to break things down, there are currently four broad types of franchising and operating model on the railway:
Here’s who’s already public—either via DfT’s operator, devolved governments, or city-region concessions.
Department for Transport-owned Franchises: LNER, Northern, Southeastern, TransPennine Express, South Western Railway, c2c, Greater Anglia.
Public Operator Franchises of Devolved National Governments: ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, Transport for Wales (specified by Transport Scotland and Transport for Wales).
Public Operator Franchises of City Regions: London Overground, the Elizabeth Line, and Merseyrail (publicly specified concessions by Transport for London and Merseytravel).
Franchises still under private operation: Govia Thameslink Railway (Thameslink/Southern/Great Northern), Great Western Railway, East Midlands Railway, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, West Midlands Trains, Chiltern
Open access operators: Grand Central, Hull Trains, Lumo, Heathrow Express.
This is quite a list. And what this means is that most rail trips in the UK are now done on publicly-owned operators. Data from the ORR shows that around 1.7 billion trips were undertaken on the rail network in 2024-25, of which around 920 million were undertaken on public operators (around 54%).
Category | Who’s in scope | Journeys (Apr 2024–Mar 2025, approx.) |
|---|
Public operators franchised to DfT/GBR | LNER, Northern, Southeastern, TPE, SWR, c2c, Greater Anglia | ~550 m |
Public operators franchised to devolved governments | ScotRail, TfW Rail, Caledonian Sleeper | ~120 m |
Public operators franchised to city regions | London Overground, Elizabeth Line, Merseyrail | ~250 m |
Private franchised operators | GTR, GWR, EMR, Avanti, CrossCountry, West Midlands Trains, Chiltern | ~805 m |
Open access operators | Grand Central, Lumo, Hull Trains | ~5 m |
Sounds good, right? I wouldn’t be so sure. I have said many times that changing ownership does not magically solve all issues with the railways, even if it feels good. If you want the good feeling of railways being in public ownership and believe in that principle, great. But it does not mean success is certain.
Nationalisation is not a cheat code. Some public operators have stabilised; others still struggle. The Guardian’s roundup after Greater Anglia’s transfer said the quiet part out loud: results so far are mixed. The lesson? Contract design, data transparency and decision-rights matter more than the logo on the timetable. If managers can change diagrams quickly, fix known fleet faults, and simplify retail without three layers of sign-off, passengers notice. If they can’t, they also notice.
So, how will we know if things get better for the passenger? Luckily, we have some KPIs for that, where we can truly judge the success of transfers into public ownership.
Reliability (on-time at recorded stops). Use the modern “on-time within 59s” metric, published by route and time of day. Set floors, publish trends, and tie bonuses to sustained improvement.
Cancellations—including P-codes. Drive the moving annual average down from 2024 highs toward pre-pandemic levels, with tough thresholds for operator-attributed failures.
Capacity & crowding. Report passenger-km and load factors by service group. Where thresholds are breached, the timetable authority should have the power (and budget) to add diagrams—fast.
Value for money (what people feel). Transport Focus’s rolling Rail User Survey gives operator-level scores. Benchmark “overall satisfaction” and value for money quarterly; link scores transparently to fares trials and retail changes. If scores sag, trigger corrective plans. (And yes, perceived value for money remains stubbornly low across the board.)
Accessibility & inclusion. Track assisted-travel reliability and step-free access milestones alongside punctuality. Accessibility is not a footnote.
Simpler fares. Publish the share of journeys sold at the best available price (by itinerary). If that share isn’t rising after retail reform, do not pass Go.
If that sounds like a long list, I understand. To make it simpler, its best to judge how successful this has been for passengers by judging three things:
Fewer cancellations, including pre-cancellations;
Higher on-time performance on today’s worst routes;
Improved value-for-money scores where fares simplification lands.
Labour is delivering on the public-ownership promise. Now the hard work starts: align incentives, push decisions closer to where problems happen, and focus on what passengers actually feel. If the numbers move in the right direction—and people feel they got a better deal—you’ll know nationalisation is doing more than changing the ownership
👩🎓From Academia
The clever clogs at our universities have published the following excellent research. Where you are unable to access the research, email the author – they may give you a copy of the research paper for free.
TL:DR - Don’t do anything else other than looking at the road, even when the car is driverless.
TL:DR - If its a success, tell people about it.
TL:DR - Efficient charger planning is essential to reduce peak power demands and avoid costly infrastructure investments.
TL:DR - Scenario planning, but for smaller places.
TL:DR - Introduces a dynamic routing system that improves trip equity by optimising routes in real time, showing an 11.4% improvement over shortest-route strategies.
😀Positive News
Here are some articles showing that, despite the state of the world, good stuff is still happening in sustainable transport. So get your fix of positivity here.
Surrey County Council’s popular Surrey Connect on demand bus service is being extended to Reigate. This will include a new Saturday service linking railway stations with popular countryside destinations.
Warwickshire County Council has completed the Europa Way road upgrade, improving traffic flow and safety with new signals, cycle routes, and pedestrian crossings. Delivered on time and budget, the scheme also supports greener travel and was shaped by community input and educational engagement.
Derby City Council has launched plans to refurbish 40 bus shelters across the city. This includes new real time displays, improving their comfort, as well as making other accessibility and passenger information improvements.
The East Midlands Combined County Authority has allocated £1.8 million to Nottingham to deliver safer walking and cycling links along Gregory Boulevard, between Mansfield Road and Noel Street.
engaluru may soon get a dedicated tunnel for cyclists and pedestrians under defence land, aiming to improve connectivity and promote greener travel options. The proposal is part of broader efforts to make the city more accessible and sustainable.
📺On the (You)Tube
Not Just Bikes has a bit of a rant over the lack of effort on urban planning. And its well justified.
🖼️Graphic Design
This is a great infographic (re-produced less-than-optimally by me) of the current situation on public transport in Northern Ireland. Bus travel is up, rail travel is down, and the bus fleet is becoming more and more electrified.
📚Random Things
These links are meant to make you think about the things that affect our world in transport, and not just think about transport itself. I hope that you enjoy them.
How ‘Wood Vaulting’ Could Help Slow Climate Change (Scientific American)
Staying alive vs taking control (Comment is Freed)
🎶 Musical Out-Tro
Despite probably being one of the most annoying bands in history - in that they could have done so much more had Axl not been Axl - Guns N’ Roses released some bangers in their time. So I had to go for the transport song from probably the best debut album of all time. Its actually one of the weaker songs on the album. But going by the fact that its still great, it shows how good the album is.