Passengers across London and Essex will be travelling on publicly-owned train services from this Sunday (20 July), as c2c’s services become the next to be brought into public ownership through Government plans to restore pride in the railways.

From Sunday, c2c services operating from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness will be placed in public hands, marking the second operator’s services to be brought into public ownership under new legislation, and the sixth operator run by the Department for Transport Operator (DFTO) – meaning around 4 in 10 passenger journeys will be run under public ownership. c2c will be joining Northern, TransPennine Express, Southeastern, LNER and South Western Railway currently operated by DFTO.

The Government says the move marks another step forwards toward Great British Railways, which aims to unite track and train under a complete reset that will mark the high standard of service and delivery the public should expect to receive, encouraging more people to take the train, driving growth and opportunity as part of the Government’s Plan for Change.

c2c is consistently rated one of the best performing operators in the country, recently achieving high customer satisfaction ratings of 89%*, supporting thousands of jobs, and driving economic growth from London to Essex. Under public ownership it will continue to thrive – engaging closely with local communities, sharing best practices across other operators and working towards a more efficient railway with passengers at its heart.

Public ownership aims to puts passengers back at the heart of the rail network. Passengers can use their tickets on another publicly owned operator at no extra cost during disruption, and passengers in the north are now making journeys across Northern and TransPennine Express with just one booking, with over 15,000 journeys estimated to be booked this way since June 2024. Through working with Network Rail, Southeastern has increased capacity to popular seaside spots in the summer months allowing more passengers to take the train to beaches like Margate, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

Two-thirds of Britons have already expressed their support for public ownership, which will save the taxpayer up to £150 million a year in fees alone and ensure every penny can be spent for the benefit of passengers.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “Whether you’re shopping in Lakeside or walking along the beach in Southend-on-Sea, from this Sunday you will be able to get there on a train service run by the public, for the public.

“Public ownership is already tackling deep-rooted problems we see on the railway that’s led to spiralling costs, fragmentation and waste. A unified network under Great British Railways will take this further with one railway under one brand with one mission – delivering excellent services for passengers wherever they travel.”

This follows the passing of the Public Ownership Act in November which will enable passenger services operating under contracts with the department to be brought into public ownership.

Rob Mullen, Managing Director of c2c said: “At c2c, we are proud of the reliable and high level of service we offer our passengers, consistently being rated as one of the best performing operators in the country.

“We now have a golden opportunity to collaborate with the wider family of publicly owned operators, sharing our successes and best practice, but also learning from a wide range of different and diverse operators who have already benefited from public ownership, to drive even more improvements for the people and places we all serve.

“A unified and focused railway can deliver more for our communities, including better growth, jobs and houses. If we are thriving as a train operator it helps our communities to thrive. This is the positive feedback loop we are excited to deliver, supported by better and closer collaboration with our partners in the lead up to GBR.”

Earlier in May, South Western Railway’s services became the first to come into public ownership under new legislation, c2c’s will follow as the second this Sunday, and Greater Anglia’s services will be next to be brought in on 12 October. The Railways Bill, which will be introduced to Parliament later this year, will enable the establishment of Great British Railways. This means passengers will travel on GBR trains, running on GBR tracks, working to a GBR timetable.

In the meantime, public sector operators will have to meet rigorous performance standards and earn the right to be called “Great British Railways”. Public sector operators will be set bespoke standards on things like punctuality, cancellation and passenger experience, so we can rebuild a world class public service. These will be set out in due course.

*The latest Transport Focus scorecard shows that passenger satisfaction with overall journeys on c2c was 89% https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/publication/c2c-scorecard-3/

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