Franchises to be scrapped as lockdown rail costs rise

Ministers are ready to seize control of the railways after more than a quarter of a century of private ownership. Franchises launched under John Major in the mid-Nineties will be ripped up and replaced by fixed-fee contracts from April, Whitehall proposals seen by The Sunday Telegraph reveal. Under emergency measures, train operators such as South Western Railway and c2c serving commuters in the South East have been supported with more than £3.5bn in taxpayer funding since the pandemic str