Operator of last resort

An operator of last resort was a term for a business in the United Kingdom that operated a railway franchise on behalf of the government when a train operating company (TOC) was no longer able to do so, and was nationalised on an interim basis. In December 2024, following new legislation in November, it was announced that the first of the remaining contracted TOCs would be taken back into public ownership in May 2025.^{[needs update]}

Purpose

Under the Railways Act 1993, which privatised passenger operations in the United Kingdom, the government was required to maintain continuity of passenger rail services when a franchise was terminated. In some instances, the government negotiated for the existing franchisee to continue to operate the franchise on a management contract until it could be re-let, as happened when GNER defaulted on the InterCity East Coast franchise in 2007.^[1]

Should that not be possible, the Department for Transport (DfT) in England (through DfT Operator), the Scottish Government (through Scottish Rail Holdings) for the ScotRail franchise in Scotland, and the Welsh Government for the Wales & Borders franchise in Wales, were required to step in as operators of last resort.

Structure

In July 2009, the DfT established Directly Operated Railways (DOR) as its operator of last resort for England.^[2] In November 2015, the DfT wound up DOR and appointed a partnership of Arup Group, Ernst & Young and SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit.^[3]

Utilisation

Between the privatisation of British Rail in the mid-1990s and the creation of Great British Railways in 2024, there were nine occasions when an operator of last resort was appointed, five of them after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In December 2024, the UK government announced plans to hand over three more services to the operator of last resort in 2025,^[4] with an expectation that the handover of all train operating companies' services, excluding open-access operators, would be completed by October 2027.^[5]

Operators of last resort

Before 2018

• South Eastern Trains operated the South Eastern franchise from 2003 to 2006 after the Connex South Eastern franchise was terminated by the Strategic Rail Authority.^[6]
• East Coast operated the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2009 to 2015 after National Express East Coast defaulted.^[7]

2018–2020

• London North Eastern Railway has operated the InterCity East Coast franchise since 2018, after Virgin Trains East Coast defaulted.^[8]
• Northern Trains has operated the Northern franchise since 1 March 2020, after the Arriva Rail North franchise was terminated by the Department for Transport.^[9]

2021–2023

• Transport for Wales Rail has been the Welsh Government's operator of last resort since 7 February 2021, after the Wales & Borders franchise operated by KeolisAmey Wales became nonviable as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.^[10]
• Southeastern has operated the South Eastern franchise since 17 October 2021, after the previous Govia-owned operator London & South Eastern Railway was stripped of the franchise for not declaring £25 million of revenue.^[11]
• ScotRail, controlled by Scottish Rail Holdings for Transport Scotland, has run the ScotRail franchise since 1 April 2022, after Transport Scotland announced that Abellio ScotRail's seven-year contract was to be terminated early because of poor performance.^[12]
• TransPennine Express took over from First TransPennine Express on 28 May 2023 after the DfT terminated the contract on the grounds of poor service.^[13][14]
• Scottish Rail Holdings took over Caledonian Sleeper from the incumbent operator, Serco, on 25 June 2023.^[15]

2024–2027

• South Western Railway took over from First MTR South Western Trains Limited on 25 May 2025.^[16][17][18]
• c2c took over from Trenitalia c2c Limited (which was originally known as LTS Rail) on 20 July 2025 after its franchise was replaced by a rail contract four years prior.^[16][17][18]
• Greater Anglia (GA Trains Limited) took over from Transport UK East Anglia Limited (which was owned by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co.) on 12 October 2025.^[16][17][18]
• Greater Thameslink Railway took over from Govia Thameslink Railway on 31 May 2026.^[19][20][21]

Remaining companies

• Avanti West Coast – Operated by FirstGroup and Trenitalia; to be nationalised by October 2027.
• Chiltern Railways – Operated by Arriva UK Trains; to be nationalised on 20 September 2026.
• CrossCountry – Operated by Arriva UK Trains; to be nationalised by October 2027.
• East Midlands Railway – Operated by Transport UK Group; to be nationalised on 19 October 2026.
• Great Western Railway – Operated by FirstGroup; to be nationalised on 13 December 2026.
• Merseyrail – Operated by Serco/Transport UK Group; to be nationalised in 2028^[22]

References

1. "East Coast to be re-franchised". Railway Gazette International. January 2007. p. 6.
2. "About DOR". Directly Operated Railways. 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010.
3. Leftly, Mark (18 January 2016). "Government accused of 'contracting out' emergency train franchises to private firms". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
4. "Government reveals first three operators to be renationalised after law change". Railnews. 4 December 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
5. "Government to take over from train operators at 'average rate of one every three months'". www.railmagazine.com. 5 December 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
6. "Connex sacked from South-east franchise". The Railway Magazine. No. 1229. September 2003. p. 10.
7. "East Coast rail change confirmed". BBC News. 5 November 2009.
8. "East Coast train line to be put into public control". BBC News. 16 May 2018.
9. "Troubled rail firm Northern brought under government control". BBC News. 29 January 2020.
10. "Welsh Government takes control of franchise". The Railway Magazine. No. 1436. November 2020. p. 6.
11. "Southeastern: Government takes over services after serious breach". BBC News. 28 September 2021.
12. "ScotRail goes back into public ownership". BBC News. 1 April 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
13. "Transpennine Express to be brought into operator of last resort". GOV.UK. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
14. "TransPennine Express loses contract over poor service". BBC News. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
15. "Serco bids a fond farewell to the Caledonian Sleeper". RailBusinessDaily. 23 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
16. South Western Railway, C2C and Greater Anglia to be nationalised in 2025 CityAM 4 December 2024
17. Operators to move in-house every three months Rail issue 1024 11 December 2024 page 14
18. South Western Railway to return to public ownership Rail Express issue 344 January 2025 page 11
19. Next train services to return to public ownership revealed as government delivers railways reset Gov.uk 26 September 2025
20. British passenger renationalisation progress International Railway Journal 29 September 2025
21. DfT names next operator to be renationalised Railnews 29 September 2025
22. Merseyrail to be brought back into public control BBC News