The House of Commons Library has produced a brief overview of the
GB train fleet, explaining who owns the trains and how they are
leased to the companies that provide train services. It also
looks at four big rolling stock procurements: InterCity Express,
Thameslink, Crossrail and HS2 and sets out the policies of
successive governments.
The bulk of the rolling stock (trains) that run on the railways
are owned by three private companies (rolling stock leasing
companies, or ROSCOs) – Angel, Eversholt and Porterbrook. These
companies lease the rolling stock to the train operating
companies (TOCs) who then deploy it on their services. For the
most part, the train companies procure the rolling stock
directly from the rolling stock companies.
In addition, in recent years the Government has stepped in to
procure large rolling stock orders directly from the train
manufacturers. Procurements for schemes such as the InterCity
Express Programme, Thameslink and Crossrail have seen some
controversy due to the award of successive contracts to
companies based largely outside of the UK. Governments have
been keen to get these companies to invest in UK skills and
jobs.
There have been investigations into the rolling stock market
over the past 10 years but no radical changes have been made by
Government. The current Government’s policy, dating back to
2010, is to design franchises that better incentivise rolling
stock procurement and innovation. This is also a common theme
for the industry, which wants to leverage emerging technology
and alternative fuels to revolutionise train travel in the
future.
Information on other rail-related issues can be found on
the Railways Briefings
Page of the Parliament website.
PDF, 476.07 KB)