Government announces Greater Anglia train services to come under public control in autumn next year

Trains on the Liverpool Street-Cambridge line through Bishop’s Stortford, including the Stansted Express, will come under public control next year as part of a major shake-up of the railways.

Greater Anglia is one of three train operating companies that will be renationalised by the Labour Government in 2025 after it passed a law enabling it to do so.

South Western Railways will be first in May, followed in July by c2c, which runs commuter services from London Fenchurch Street to parts of east London and south Essex along the London, Tilbury and Southend line.

Then, in autumn, Greater Anglia – which runs the West Anglia line from Liverpool Street to Cambridge through Harlow, Sawbridgeworth, Stansted Mountfitchet, Elsenham, Newport and Audley End as well as Stortford – will be renationalised.

Currently, railway lines are run by private train operating companies as franchises on contracts for a fixed length of time. The Government plans to set up a new arm’s-length body, Great British Railways (GBR), which will take over these contracts as they expire. It also eventually wants GBR to take over responsibility for maintaining and improving rail infrastructure from Network Rail.

Plans to overhaul the rail network and “put passengers first” were announced on Wednesday (December 4) by new Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.

The move comes just days after one of the Government’s first major pieces of legislation, the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, received Royal Assent.

A statement from the Department for Transport claimed the transition to a publicly owned railway will improve reliability and support the Government’s number one priority of boosting economic growth by encouraging more people to use the railway.

It will also clamp down on “unacceptable levels of delays, cancellations and waste seen under decades of failing franchise contracts, and will save up to £150 million a year in fees alone by ensuring every penny is spent on services rather than private shareholders, all while coming at no additional cost to the taxpayer”.

Ms Alexander said: “For too long, the British public have had to put up with rail services which simply don’t work. A complex system of private train operators has too often failed its users.

“Starting with journeys on South Western Railway, we’re switching tracks by bringing services back under public control to create a reliable rail network that puts customers first.

“Our broken railways are finally on the fast track to repair and rebuilding a system that the British public can trust and be proud of again.”

Greater Anglia provides about 1,300 intercity, commuter and rural services to 134 stations throughout Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk, including the Stansted Express service. It is responsible for over 3,000 employees.

It is part of the Transport UK group, which also operates East Midlands Railway and West Midlands Trains, as well as the Merseyrail rail concession in a joint venture with Serco. It also runs 9% of the London bus market.