Are rolling stocks about to go off the rails?

Andy Burnham’s pricey plans for nationalisation and greater public control of services have thrust Thames Water, housebuilders and the care sector under the microscope. But while public attention has centred primarily on these British heavyweights, the process of bringing the UK’s passenger rail services back into state hands has chugged along quietly, leaving the question of rolling stock companies at the back of the carriages. The deal could spark friction with some of the UK’s – and the world’s – biggest banks and investment firms, many of whom own huge shares in Britain’s rolling stock. Rolling stock companies (ROSCOs), private firms that lease out trains for British railway, gained control and ownership of the UK’s passenger train fleets in the mid-1990s, following the privatisation of British Rail. The ‘big three’ ROSCOs are Porterbrook, Angel Trains and Eversholt. Investment banks to disembark? The handing back of Britain’s railways has left analysts wondering