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Who owns Britain? The effects of privatisation on the costs of living in the UK
(www.common-wealth.org)
this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2025
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Indeed. But it'd be very expensive to buy them out. It seems likely to me they'll continue with existing contracts, then phase them out in the medium/long term.
It's worth bearing in mind that the primary reason trains are leased rather than bought outright in the first place is that private rail operators don't know with certainty that they'll still be the operator in 5 years when the contract comes back up for renewal.
Virgin Trains (or whoever) isn't going to buy trains outright knowing their contract is up for renewal in 0-5 years and there's a chance they'll be left without a rail franchise contract and in ownership of a load of trains that cost them a fortune, now sitting unused.
With the government running all trains, there's long term certainty โ the government knows that in 5 years, Great British Rail will still be the ones running services, so buying rather than leasing will make a lot more financial sense.