Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
The decades long struggle of rail workers and passengers in Britain to bring railways back into the public sector forced the government to reverse its privatization in 2024. The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 had paved the way, allowing state-owned operators to take over from private operators.
The Railways Act 2025 officially created a new unified public body, Great British Railways (GBR). GBR will be managing all publicly owned operators in Great Britain, combining them with Network Rail, which owns the tracks, signals and big stations.
Since then, a phased renationalization of passenger services is going on in Britain, ending decades of failed privatization. Renationalization is being carried out by simply not renewing private contracts when they end. By February 2026, ten of the 16 major rail operators in Britain were renationalised. On 31 May 2026, the largest private operator which accounts for one-sixth of passenger journeys in Britain, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), reverted to public ownership.
The renationalization is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2027.
Trains in the UK were previously nationalised for almost 50 years, as British Rail operated rail transport from 1948 to 1997. The core activities of British Rail were privatised between 1994 and 1997, in accordance with the Railways Act that had been passed in 1993.
In total, there were 28 private companies operating the train lines in the UK, which controlled the day-to-day running of services, ticket prices and timetables. However, they did not control the trains themselves or the track and signal infrastructure.
The people of Britain have been demanding renationalisation of British rail for decades because none of the benefits promises made at the time of privatization materialised. What they found after privatization:
- Overcrowded trains;
- Chronic delays and cancellations of train services;
- Withdrawal of train services on many routes;
- Soaring rail fares which increased at a rate even higher than inflation;
- Unreliable system due to short notice cancellations;
- Lack of Accountability – It was often difficult for passengers to know who was genuinely responsible for service failures, as the infrastructure (track and signalling) and daily operations were split between different entities;
- Profiteering and Subsidies – The private rail companies kept demanding and receiving billions of pounds in government subsidies, even when private rail companies were making profit, distributing dividend to their capitalist owners, while service quality was plummeting. One of the justifications that had been given for privatization was that the British government cannot afford to subsidise passenger services.
Within a few years of privatization, it became clear that privatization of railways was a failure. Between 1997 and 2002, a series of tragic accidents (Southall, Ladbroke Grove, Hatfield, Potter Bar) highlighted the flaws in the system. With over 90 derailments in a single year and dozens of fatalities, it was clear that privatization has led to unsafe rail operations.
Private Railtrack went bankrupt and was replaced in 2002 by Network Rail, a non-profit organization under state control and funding.
Far from being the model of efficiency promised at the time of privatization in the 1990s, privatised British rail turned out to be a costly, inefficient and unequal system.
The general secretary of European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) said, “it’s a clear rejection of the failed ideology of rail privatization. Workers and passengers deserve better. We call on governments across Europe to follow this example: reintegrate rail systems, invest in quality public services, and put workers at the heart of the transition.”
According to a public survey, more than two-third of British people support rail renationalization!
In India, the privatization of British Rail was cited as an example to emulate. Rail workers in India should now demand not only a stop to any further privatization measures but demand the reversal of whatever has already been privatised.
The reversal of privatization British Rail should also inspire workers of all public sector departments and enterprises to step up their struggle against anti-worker and anti-people privatization.
British Rail example should also inspire us to double up our efforts to involve passengers and other users to strengthen our struggle against privatization.
An uncompromising unity and solidarity in the spirit of ‘Attack on One is an Attack on All’ against any measure towards privatization is bound to bring success to the Indian working class.