Work together to give the railway a fighting chance

Two of Britain’s train operating companies are living on borrowed time.

Greater Anglia and West Midlands Trains have contracts that contain core term expiry dates of September 15 2024. To bring them into the public sector, Labour Transport Secretary Louise Haigh need only serve an expiry notice that gives at least three reporting periods’ warning. Each reporting period is 28 days, so that makes 84 days.

Such an expiry notice cannot take effect before the core term expiry date. But as we are now within 84 days of September 15, the Transport Secretary can trigger the end of private operations for those two companies whenever she pleases.