British Rail was broken up and privatised between 1994 and 1997. The government divided up the network and the private rail companies bid to run different franchises covering a particular area for a number of years.
Many of these franchises have failed in private hands. ScotRail, Wales and Border, East Coast mainline, Transpennine, Northern, Southeastern and the Caledonian Sleeper were taken into public ownership due to failures under private management.
Railtrack, the private company that owned and managed the tracks, failed to invest in rail safety, leading to two major rail accidents in 1999 and 2000. This led the Tony Blair government to nationalise rail infrastructure under publicly owned Network Rail in 2002. Network Rail remains in public ownership.
In November 2024, the Labour government passed the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, bringing all of Britain's railway services into public ownership when their current private contracts expire. Since then, South Western Railways, c2c, Greater Anglia Railway and West Midlands Railway. Chiltern Railway is coming into public ownership on 31st of May 2026.
I Squared Capital is a company registered in the tax-haven Cayman Islands.
I Squared Capital runs Chiltern Railways, London Overground, CrossCountry, Grand Central
First Group is listed on the London Stock Exchange, mostly owned by institutional investors - global and UK based asset management firms.
First Group runs Great Western, the ‘Lumo’ service from London to Edinburgh, Hull Trains
South Western Railway is owned by First Group (70%) and MTR Corporation (30%)
MTR Corporation is a public transport company mostly owned by the government of Hong Kong.
Avanti West Coast is owned by First Group (70%) and Trenitalia (30%)
Trenitalia is the main rail operator in Italy, partly owned by the Italian state.
Govia is 65% owned by the Go-Ahead Group 65%, 35% by Keolis.
Go Ahead is majority owned by Kinetic Group, an Australian bus company, itself owned by a Canadian pension fund and infrastructure companies from Australia and Spain.
Keolis is 70% owned by the national state owned railway company of France (SNCF) and 30% by a Canadian pension plan.
Govia runs, Great Northern, Southern/Thameslink
Transport UK Group was created in February 2023 when management bought out the British assets of Abellio, the Dutch state owned railway company.
Transport UK Group runs East Midlands Railway
Find out more about the private rail companies below. You can also learn about the three main 'ROSCOs' or rolling stock companies, which lease trains to rail companies.
Read more about the privatisation of rail and what we can do about it here.
Angel Trains is 64% owned by Canadian pension fund the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP), and 10% owned by Arjun Infrastructure Partners, a London-based asset management firm.
(Angel Trains is one of the three main ROSCOs (Rolling Stock Operating Companies) that were formed in the UK following the privatisation of British Rail in 1994. It owns and leases trains to passenger rail and freight companies.)
Owned by I Squared Capital, a company registered in the tax-haven Cayman Islands.
Eversholt is ultimately owned by CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, a Hong Kong infrastructure company set up by billionaire Li Ka Shing, and now 25% owned by New York private equity firm KKR.
(Eversholt is one of the three main ROSCOs (Rolling Stock Operating Companies) that were formed in the UK following the privatisation of British Rail in 1994. It owns and leases trains to passenger rail and freight companies.)
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, mostly owned by institutional investors - global and UK based asset management firms.
Mostly owned by a consortium of Kinetic Holding (Australian bus company) and Globalvia Inversiones (Spanish Transport Infrastructure Company).
Keolis is 70% owned by the national state owned railway company of France (SNCF) and 30% by a Canadian pension plan.
Porterbrook is 30% owned by a Canadian pension fund, 30% by Allianz, a UK insurance firm, 30% owned by asset management firms and 10% owned by EDF which is owned by the French state.
(Porterbrook is one of the three main ROSCOs (Rolling Stock Operating Companies) that were formed in the UK following the privatisation of British Rail in 1994. It owns and leases trains to passenger rail and freight companies.)
Transport UK Group was created in February 2023 when management bought out the British assets of Abellio, the Dutch state owned railway company.
Trenitalia is the main rail operator in Italy, partly owned by the Italian state.
