UK: The operation of Essex to London commuter services under the c2c brand transferred from the Italian national railway group’s Trenitalia to state-owned Department for Transport Operator Ltd in the early hours of July 20, marking the latest step in the government’s nationalisation programme.
c2c operates a relatively self-contained route from Shoeburyness to Southend and London Fenchurch Street, which was one of the first to be franchised in 1996. A management buy-out was selected for the first contract, but financial irregularities were discovered shortly before the handover and as a result the franchise went to Prism Rail.
National Express acquired Prism Rail in 2000 and won a new 15-year Essex Thameside franchise in 2014. However in February 2017 National Express exited the UK rail market, saying it wanted to focus on more attractive business opportunities. It sold c2c for £72·6m to Italy’s Trenitalia, which was seeking a foothold in the UK as part of its wider ambitions to be become an international multi-modal transport operator.
Trenitalia said it had subsequently aimed ‘to translate the skills, discipline and customer-focused excellence developed in the highly competitive Italian market’.
The transfer to DFTO has been aligned with the end of the core term of the Essex Thameside contract, so there is no cost to the government.
The unorthodox c2c brand name, which was introduced in 2000 and has no official meaning, will be retained under DFTO ownership with the operator now formally c2c Railway Ltd.
A ‘golden opportunity’
‘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’, c2c Managing Director Rob Mullen said ahead of the handover. ’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 Great British Railways.’
The RMT union welcomed public ownership of c2c, and called for cleaning services currently outsourced to Bidvest Noonan to be taken in-house. General Secretary Eddie Dempsey said the Labour government ‘is doing the right thing bringing track and train into public ownership, but it must keep its promise to insource thousands of workers on the railway and in the wider economy too.’
c2s is the second operator to transfer under the nationalisation programme, following South Western Railway in May. Four other operators had previously transferred for different reasons. Greater Anglia will be next, on October 12.
Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander said ‘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.’
Trenitalia in the UK
Trenitalia said ‘while rail industry reform continues to take shape, Trenitalia remains firmly committed to its future in the UK market and to maintaining investment across the broader mobility ecosystem’.
It said it will continue to operate Avanti West Coast inter-city services though a joint venture with FirstGroup until the scheduled transition to public ownership in 2026 — the contract’s core term ends on October 18 2026 — and will act as a shadow operator for the High Speed 2 project. In April Trenitalia also applied to operate new high speed services between London and Paris.
Trenitalia UK Managing Director Ernesto Sicilia said ‘while our role as operator is ending, our dedication to sharing knowledge, supporting innovation and fostering collaboration remains unchanged. We recognise that building a resilient and integrated rail network takes time and Trenitalia is determined to play a constructive part in that journey.’
