“This is not renationalisation,” the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, had said in his statement to the Commons on the overhaul of the rail network. Shapps started with something on which anyone who used trains in the 1970s and 80s could agree. The rail network had become fragmented, the franchises had lacked leadership and accountability and some had repeatedly failed and had needed to be taken back into public ownership. Operators were frequently more interested in allocating blame for late-running trains to Network Rail than in customer service. Where it fell short of complete renationalisation was that the services would be run by private companies on a fixed-profit basis.

Source: The Guardian May 20, 2021 16:18 UTC