Half UK rail journeys will be on foreign-owned services after franchise begins

The Government is facing fresh criticism over Britain's rail network after it was found that half of all passenger journeys will soon be on services owned by foreign countries.


The Press Association's analysis of industry data comes after the announcement earlier this week that Hong Kong company MTR will help run the South West Trains franchise for the next seven years from August.


It follows the recent awarding of the c2c franchise, which runs from the City of London to Essex, to Italian state operator Trenitalia.


The equivalent of 863 million such trips were made last year, which was 50% of total journeys, the figures show.


The breakdown of the annual journeys made on Britain's railways on services owned by foreign countries are:


:: Germany 391 million

:: Netherlands 197 million

:: France 143 million

:: Hong Kong 86 million

:: Italy 46 million


Labour's shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald called for the railways to be renationalised as he claimed it is "ludicrous" that foreign government-owned firms are invited to run UK services "in their own interests" but the British state "is banned from doing so".


He said: "With promised upgrades delayed or cancelled, punctuality at its worst for a decade and fares up 27% since 2010, it's becoming increasingly difficult for the Tories to justify allowing private and foreign state-owned companies to take money out of the system, which should be used to improve services or hold fares down.


"When in public hands, the East Coast Mainline returned over £1bn to the Treasury, kept fares down, had record passenger satisfaction and had excellent industrial relations. We should be building on that success."


Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said privatisation has failed passengers and left foreign state train operators "laughing all the way to the bank".


He added: "The case for public ownership of UK rail to end this racket is now overwhelming."


The number of journeys being made on Britain's railways has more than doubled over the past two decades, from 846 million in 1997/8 to 1.72 billion in 2015/16.


Recent analysis by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), representing train companies and Network Rail, found that 6,400 more train services will be running each week by 2021 due to the ongoing £50bn investment in the network.


RDG chief executive Paul Plummer said: "Passengers and taxpayers have benefited from franchising, where rail companies from around the world bring new ideas and innovation to Britain's railway, and railways across the world still want to learn from our successes.


"Rail companies have worked together to transform Britain's railway, doubling the number of passengers and creating one of the world's safest railways.


"Under franchising, the railway has gone from costing taxpayers £2bn a year in terms of day-to-day costs to contributing £200m, money which helps to fund major rail upgrades."


A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: "Rail franchises are awarded through fair and open competition to the bidder offering the best deal for passengers and the taxpayer. We look for expertise and knowledge to build a better railway."


The Government is delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century which will improve journeys by providing "more seats, more of the services people want and modern stations," she added.