An operator of last resort is a business in the United Kingdom that operates a railway franchise, on behalf of the government, when a

train operating company A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating Passenger Trains, passenger trains on the Rail transport in Great Britain, railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the Privatisation ...

is no longer able to do so. , there are five such operators in England, Wales and Scotland.

Purpose

Under the

Railways Act 1993 The Railways Act 1993c 43 was introduced by John Major's Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government and passed on 5 November 1993. It provided for the restructuring of the British Railways Board (BRB), the public corporation that owned and ...

, which privatised passenger operations in the United Kingdom, the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

is required to maintain continuity of passenger rail services if a franchise is terminated. In some instances, the government has been able to negotiate for the existing franchisee to continue to operate the franchise on a

management contract A management contract is an arrangement under which operational control of an enterprise is vested by contract in a separate enterprise that performs the necessary managerial functions in return for a fee. Management contracts involve not just sell ...

until it can be relet, as happened when

GNER Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, No ...

defaulted on the

InterCity East Coast InterCity East Coast is a railway franchise for passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom from London King's Cross to Hull, Leeds, Bradford, Harrogate, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen. It was fo ...

franchise in 2007. Should this not be possible, the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

(DfT) in England (through

DfT OLR Holdings DfT OLR Holdings (DOHL) is a holding company established by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom to act as operator of last resort for rail franchises that are Nationalization, nationalised. History DfT OLR Holdings was establishe ...

), or the Scottish Government for the ScotRail franchise in Scotland, and the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

for the

Wales & Borders franchise , image_filename = , image_size = , caption = , nameforarea = service area , regions = Wales, North West England, the West Midlands, and Gloucestershire. , operator = Transport for Wales Rail , dates = 14 ...

in Wales, is required to step in as the operator of last resort.

Structure

In July 2009, the DfT established

Directly Operated Railways Directly Operated Railways Ltd. (DOR) was a holding company set up by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom in July 2009 to operate rail franchises should it become necessary to bring them into public ownership. From November 2015, ...

(DOR) as its operator of last resort for England. In November 2015, the DfT wound up DOR and appointed a partnership of

Arup Group Arup (officially Arup Group Limited) is a British multinational professional services firm headquartered in London which provides design, engineering, architecture, planning, and advisory services across every aspect of the built environment ...

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

and

SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit (Interfleet Technology until 2015) is an international rail consultancy company headquartered in Derby, England. It was founded in 1994. In October 2011 the company was acquired by SNC-Lavalin. In January 2016 the com ...

Utilisation

Since privatisation in the mid-1990s there have been seven occasions when an operator of last resort has been appointed.

Current

London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...

has operated the InterCity East Coast franchise since 2018, after

Virgin Trains East Coast Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the N ...

defaulted. *

Northern Trains Northern Trains, branded as Northern, (legally Northern Trains Limited) is a State-owned enterprises of the United Kingdom, publicly owned train operating company in England. It is owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT) ...

has operated the Northern franchise since 1 March 2020, after the

Arriva Rail North Arriva Rail North, branded as Northern by Arriva (legal name Arriva Rail North Limited) was a train operating company in Northern England which began operating the Northern franchise on 1 April 2016 and inherited units from the previous operato ...

franchise was terminated by the

. *

Transport for Wales Rail Transport for Wales Rail Limited, branded as Transport for Wales and TfW Rail ( and ), is a Welsh publicly owned train operating company, a subsidiary of Transport for Wales (TfW), a Welsh Government-owned company. It commenced operations of t ...

has been the

's operator of last resort since 7 February 2021, after the

operated by

KeolisAmey Wales Keolis Amey Operations ( cy, Gweithrediadau KeolisAmey), Full legal name is bilingual including the Welsh name, as "Keolis Amey Operations / Gweithrediadau Keolis Amey Limited". trading as Transport for Wales Rail Services (TfW Rail Services) ...

became unviable as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. *

SE Trains SE Trains Limited, trading as Southeastern, is a train operator, owned by DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport, that took over operating the South Eastern franchise in South East England from privately owned London & South Easte ...

has operated the

South Eastern franchise The South Eastern franchise, also known as the Integrated Kent franchise, is a railway franchise for the provision of passenger services between London and Kent in South East England. History The South Eastern franchise was formed as a shadow ...

since 17 October 2021, after the previous

Govia Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in November 1996 as a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group (65%) and Keolis (35%) to bid for rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. History Establis ...

-owned operator

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

(legally London & South Eastern Railway) was stripped of the franchise for not declaring £25 million of revenue. The new operator has continued to use the Southeastern brand. *

ScotRail ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...

controlled by

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Organisat ...

has run the ScotRail franchise since 1 April 2022, after the previous operator

Abellio ScotRail Abellio ScotRail, operating services under the name ScotRail, was the national train operating company of Scotland. A subsidiary of Abellio, it operated the ScotRail franchise from 1 April 2015, taking over from predecessor First ScotRail ...

7 year contract ended.

Past

South Eastern Trains South Eastern Trains (stylised as Southeastern) was a publicly owned train operating company that operated the South Eastern Passenger Rail Franchise between November 2003, when it took over from Connex South Eastern, and 1 April 2006, when S ...

operated the

from 2003 until 2006, after the

Connex South Eastern Connex South Eastern was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Connex that operated the South Eastern franchise from October 1996 until November 2003. History On 13 October 1996 Connex commenced operating the South Eastern ...

franchise was terminated by the

Strategic Rail Authority The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom set up under the Transport Act 2000 to provide strategic direction for Rail transport in the United Kingdom, the railway industry. Its motto was 'Brita ...

. *

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

operated the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2009 until 2015, after

National Express East Coast National Express East Coast (NXEC) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by National Express, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and ...

defaulted.

References

{{Reflist Department for Transport Nationalisation in the United Kingdom Post-privatisation British railway companies Privatisation of British Rail Railway companies of the United Kingdom