An open invitation for open access?

Ministers appear to have backed the latest open access deal guaranteeing private operation within a nationalised railway. PETER PLISNER analyses the latest news and the state of play

At the beginning of December, just five days into her new job following the departure of Louise Haigh, new Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander announced that in May 2025 South Western Railway would be the next privately run operating company to be renationalised. As part of the announcement, she spoke of private companies presiding over a “broken railway”. Regardless of your view on whether or not the railway is broken, the expectation during the election was that the railway would be brought under public ownership to fix it. Legislation to enable that to happen gained Royal Assent in December, and other franchises - including c2c and Greater Anglia- will also be brought under what is now being called ‘DfT Operator’ during 2025. Previously known as DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL), it…

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RAIL (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 1027

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