West Midlands Trains: Nationalisation
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the total cost of transferring West Midlands Trains into public ownership, including legal, consultancy, procurement, and transition management costs; what estimate she has made of any additional annual operating costs arising from public ownership compared with the previous operator model; and whether she plans to publish an aggregated transition cost assessment.
Answered by Keir Mather
Since the start of the pandemic, the net costs of operating franchised passenger services have been borne by taxpayers, not by private train operators. The transfer of West Midlands Trains’ services into public ownership is expected to reduce the Government’s financial exposure, as a result of savings in the fees currently paid to privately-owned train operating companies. Once all services currently delivered under contract with the Department have transferred, public ownership will save taxpayers an estimated £110 million to £150 million every year.
The Department and DFTO have no current plans to publish an aggregated transition cost assessment for West Midlands Trains.
Verbatim has judged this answer against the question that was actually asked — answered, partly answered, or evaded. Sign in to see the verdict →