Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 9 December 2024 to Question 17895 on South Western Railway: Nationalisation, Question 17896 on C2C: Nationalisation and Question 17897 on Abellio Greater Anglia: Nationalisation, what the evidential basis is for the expectation that transfer costs will be less than the fees provided to private operators.

Based on previous mobilisations undertaken by the Department and DfT Operator (DfTO), we have an understanding of the base level costs associated with transfer from a private sector operator to public ownership. For example, as set out in the Explanatory Note to the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, mobilisation and due diligence costs are estimated at £1m to £1.5m per transaction. However, the exact costs of each transfer cannot be determined until engagement with each operator has commenced.

For comparison, savings in fees no longer payable to private operators are expected to be between £110m and £150m per annum, once all services have transferred into public ownership from the ten current private-sector operators.