The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill is a short, four-clause government bill. It would remove the current requirement that passenger railway franchises be awarded to private sector operators. Instead, the bill would require the government to award new passenger railway contracts directly to a publicly owned company. New contracts would be given to public sector operators when existing rail franchises expired or were broken. This means that the government would not have to pay fees to private companies for ending existing contracts early. Alongside the bill, the government published explanatory notes, an impact assessment and a delegated powers memorandum.
The bill would extend to England and Wales and Scotland. While cross-border rail services are a reserved matter, the bill would not in practice impact rail services in Scotland and Wales, as these are already run by the public sector. However, procurement and certain other devolved matters engage the legislative consent process in both Scotland and Wales. Legislative consent motions have been sought in both the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Parliament.
Bringing passenger railway services into public ownership was a Labour Party manifesto commitment. It was included in the 2024 King’s Speech. While the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties agree the railways should be reformed, the Conservative Party has said the measure is ideologically motivated. The Liberal Democrats have argued that other reforms that would immediately benefit passengers should be prioritised. The bill passed its House of Commons stages unamended.
The government has said it intends to introduce a railways bill, which would include significant system reforms, later in the session.