But bosses at the company don’t expect any major changes following the move – Greater Anglia has a reputation as Britain’s best rail operator.
It is one of three rail firms that will be taken over by the Department for Transport next year under its “owner of last resort body”.
That is the company set up by earlier governments to take on failing franchises – but next year it is to start taking on successful operators whose licences are nearing conclusion.
Greater Anglia’s original franchise ran until September 2026 but there were break clauses and the government has told its owner, Transport UK, that it will be taking control from next autumn.
It will be the third company taken over by the government next year after South Western Railway (SWR) in May and C2C which runs from London to Southend in July – that is when their franchises were due to end in any case.
Greater Anglia has won the Passenger Operator of the Year Award twice in three years. (Image: Greater Anglia)
Greater Anglia has been by far the most successful rail operator in terms of reliability and punctuality over the last two years and C2C is also one of the best performers.
SWR has had challenges – but it is nowhere near as bad as some of the rail operators in the north of England which have had massive ongoing problems.
Industry insiders believe the government is keen to take over some successful companies in a bid to show that a nationalised rail network can work – especially to passengers who remember the difficult times with British Rail.
Greater Anglia bosses believe the move will have little impact on passengers – its trains are unique to the region and are serviced at bespoke depots at Norwich and Ilford set up to maintain them.
The trains themselves will continue to be owned by commercial companies – they are leased to the rail operator.
Staff were aware there was a possibility that the operating licence would be ended before it was due to expire in 2026 but had not been expecting the announcement which was released by the government this morning.
Greater Anglia is owned by Transport UK, a management buy-out which took on the British rail operations when Dutch Railways-owned pulled out of the UK in August 2022.
The new owners always knew that renationalisation was on the cards in the event of a Labour election win – and are believed to be ready to co-operate with the government to ensure a smooth transfer of ownership for all its rail businesses.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said services in many parts of the country were not good enough, adding: “Starting with journeys on South Western Railway, we’re switching tracks by bringing services back under public control to create a reliable rail network that puts customers first.”
Services across the country will eventually be brought under the auspices of state-owned rail company Great British Railways (GBR), but currently the legislation is not in place to create GBR and therefore the government will use its existing company to own the operators.
The move only affects the passenger services run by operators like Greater Anglia. Network Rail is already government-owned, nationalised by the previous Labour government after the failure of Railtrack.
Freight services will continue to operated by private operators like Freightliner and GB Railfreight.