c2c brought under public ownership

As of yesterday (20th July 2025), train services across London and Essex are now publicly owned, as c2c’s services become the next to be brought into public ownership through the government’s plans to restore Britain’s railways.

This makes c2c the second operator to have their services nationalised, and the sixth operator run by the Department for Transport Operator, alongside Northern, TransPennine Express, Southeaster, LNER and South Western Railway. This means that around four in ten passenger journeys will be run under public ownership.

Two-thirds of Brits have expressed their support for nationalising the rails, which is set to save the taxpayer up to £150 million a year in fees alone.

This is another step towards Great British Railways, and public ownership means that passengers can use their tickets on another publicly owned operator at no extra cost during disruption. Passengers in the north are already making journeys across North and TransPennine Express trains with just one booking, totalling over 15,000 journeys estimated to be booked this away since June 2024.

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 as 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.”

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 benefitted 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, support by better and closer collaboration with our partners in the lead up to GBR.”