Britain Starts Nationalization of Railways...Three companies to switch to state next year

The British Labor Party government has started the nationalization of railways, which it pledged for the general election in July.

Britain's Transport Ministry said it plans to nationalise the South Western Railway, which links downtown London with the metropolitan south-west London, in May next year, followed by the C2C linking London to Essex in July and Greater Anglia on the east coast in the autumn.

The companies will be managed by DfT Operators, a rail operations organization under the Department of Transportation, and will then be integrated into a public company called Great British Railways (GBR).

The Labour government is nationalising each private railway company in such a way that it does not renew it at the end of the contract period, and the entire nationalisation process is expected to take three years.

British Railways began privatising in the 1990s, which has seen service deteriorate through the COVID-19 pandemic, including rising fares, train delays and cancellations.

The government believes the nationalization of railways will save 150 million pounds a year, about 270 billion won.