PUBLIC OWNERSHIP TRANSITION PROGRAMME

Government Transformation and Service Delivery

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £36.6m
Published schedule: 04/12/2024 – 31/12/2027
NISTA delivery confidence: AMBER
Senior responsible owner: Alex Hynes

What the project is for

The Programme will transfer the remaining privately operated passenger rail contracts, for which the Secretary of State is responsible, into public ownership. These will be transferred to DfT Operator Limited (DFTO) whose functions will eventually be integrated into Great British Railways (GBR). The aim is to complete all transfers into public ownership by the end of 2027. Richard Goodman served as interim SRO from 24 December 2025 to 31 March 2026 during the programme’s transfer from DfT to DFTO. Alex Hynes assumed SRO responsibilities from 1 April 2026.

Departmental delivery commentary

Compared to financial year 2024/25 Q4, the NISTA/SRO Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) rating for 2025/26 Q4 has remained at Amber. Good progress continues to be made with South Western Railway, c2c, Greater Anglia and West Midlands Trains successfully transferred into public ownership. Work is progressing well on the Govia Thameslink Railway transfer scheduled for 31 May 2026, with further transfers scheduled (including Chiltern Railways on 20 September 2026 and Great Western Railway on 13 December 2026). This indicates that the Programme has a good chance of successful completion, although larger, more complex transfers remain.

Schedule

The programme is progressing on time and as planned; the services of South Western Railway, c2c, Greater Anglia and West Midlands have successfully transferred into public ownership. The SoS has also issued expiry notices confirming the planned transfer of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) services on 31 May 2026, Chiltern services on 20 September 2026 and Great Western Railway services on 13 December 2026. Work on the GTR transfer is well advanced with work on Chiltern now progressing to plan. Decisions regarding the timing of the final three transfers will be made by the SoS later with the full programme of transitions into public ownership expected to be completed by the end of 2027. Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the project's end-date at 25/26-Q4 remains the same. There is a risk that a Train Operating Company may default, which could necessitate unplanned transfers and exacerbate capacity and capability pressures across the department and DFTO. While the likelihood of default is considered low and the risk is regarded as manageable, the programme continues to plan for this. The transfer of DFT Rail Services Group staff to DFTO took place at the end of March 2026.

Cost

Compared to Q4 of the 2024/25 financial year, the project’s departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at Q4 of 2025/26 (measured in £m) has remained the same.

Benefits

Under public ownership, passenger services will be operated in the interests of passengers rather than shareholders. This represents a vital step towards wider reform, bringing track and train together under Great British Railways (GBR). Public ownership will save taxpayers up to an estimated £110-150 million every year on fees paid to privately-owned train operating companies, once all services currently delivered under contract with the Department have transferred. The Government is taking the railways into public ownership at the lowest reasonable cost to the taxpayer, enabling long-overdue improvements to make everyday journeys easier. Each transfer will involve some mobilisation and due diligence costs. These costs are expected to be a small fraction of the £110-150m per year in fees to private operators that will no longer have to be funded by the taxpayer once all franchised services are back in public ownership.