Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what parts of the UK's railways, including tracks and trains, they own.

The national rail infrastructure is held and managed by Network Rail, a Non-Departmental Public Body reporting to the Department for Transport. A number of privately owned lines and sidings are connected to the national rail network. Almost all rolling stock in operation on the national rail network is privately owned. The franchised passenger train operating companies are contracted out by the Department for Transport or devolved administrations. The Intercity East Coast franchise is currently operated by a publicly owned operating company, LNER Ltd, pending the letting of a new franchise. All these train services operate on the national rail network alongside privately owned freight and passenger train operating companies.

The High Speed 1 infrastructure between London St Pancras and the UK Channel Tunnel portal is owned by the Department for Transport and let as a thirty year concession. Some UK cities own and operate their own rail networks, notably London, Newcastle and Glasgow.