Railways: Nationalisation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Explanatory Notes to the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill, whether the projected savings are net of police funding obligations; and what estimate her Department has made of the net impact on the public purse of absorbing those liabilities into public sector operators.
Answered by Keir Mather
The Explanatory Notes set out that public ownership is expected to save an estimated £110-150 million per annum, once all franchised contracts have expired, as a result of savings of fixed and performance-based management fees currently paid to private sector train operators.
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, the costs of operating franchised passenger services have been borne by taxpayers, not by private sector train operators. This includes the costs of each operator’s Police Service Agreement with the British Transport Police Authority. As a result, there is not expected to be any new impact on the public purse in relation to British Transport Police costs.
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