Andy Burnham faces requires all trains on UK railways to be publicly owned
The Aslef union has called the current system, which allows private firms to make big profits from leasing back trains to operators, a ‘national disgrace’
Angel Trains, whose deals include new rolling stock for Grand Central, declared a £111million dividend last year
PM Andy Burnham is facing calls to ensure all new trains on Britain’s railways are owned by the public after the country’s biggest operator announced a new profit haul.
Rolling stock companies were created with the Tories’ controversial privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s. They own the coaches, locomotives and freight wagons used on the railways, which they lease to train operators.
And while Labour is renationalising train operators, the trains themselves remain in private hands.
Train drivers’ union Aslef is arguing for all future trains to be publicly owned.
It came as newly released accounts for Angel Trains Ltd showed it made a profit of £50million in 2025. It forms part of a wider group that made £115.8million in the year to last June and dished out £111million worth of dividends.
The company owns more than 4,000 trains and has deals to lease rolling stock to South Western Trains, Northern Trains, and Great Western Railway.
The two other big owners of passenger trains – also known as Roscos – are Porterbrook and Eversholt.
Aslef general secretary Dave Calfe said: :”The money that Angel Trains – and the other two rolling stock companies in their cosy little three firm club – take out of the rail industry is a national disgrace. It’s time we owned our own trains.
“Bringing Britain’s rolling stock back into public ownership – so that we own, rather than lease, the trains from Angel and the other Roscos – will not only save us billions but help rebuild the British economy by rolling back what Andy Burnham referred to as the de-industrialisation of Britain. We need trains made by British workers, here in Britain, for Britain’s railways.”
Last April saw Angel Trains, majority-owned by the Canadian pension fund PSP, announce a £171million purchase of nine new five-car Hitachi trains to operate on Arriva Group’s Grand Central open access routes.
“The delivery of these new state-of-the-art trains further secures jobs at Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe facility where the vehicles will be assembled, helping to retain critical skills and drive growth within the local economy,” said Angel Trains, which owns £1.3billion worth of rolling stock.
“This investment underpins the groups’ continued commitment to investing in the UK rail manufacturing and supply chain.”
It formed part of a near £194million worth of investment, with the company adding that it paid £40.6million in UK taxes.
The accounts for Angel Trains Ltd, whose parent company is registered in Jersey, showed its highest paid director netted £700,000 last year. While not naming who it is, the firm’s chief executive is Malcolm Brown.
Annual accounts for Eversholt, owned by Hong Kong based billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Hutchison empire, are due to released by Companies House in the coming days. Previously published documents showed profits more than doubled to £64.8million in 2024, with dividend payments jumping from £37.5million to £60million.
Profits at Porterbrook Leasing, whose owners include a Canadian pension fund and insurer Allianz, fell to £88.8million in 2024. It approved a £90million dividend.
Figures from the Office of Rail and Road show franchised train operators paid rolling stock firms £4.1billion in the year to March last year. The rosco’s average profit margin fell last year, but still stood at a healthy 18.5% and is sharply higher than in 2019/20.
Six firms also paid £275million in dividends to shareholders in the year, after £339 million the prior year. Between 2018/19 and 2024/25, the companies have dished out more than £1.8billion in dividends, the ORR said. The data also showed £525million was spent on new trains in 2024/25.
Mr Calfe said: “There is another way. On Merseyside, Labour Mayor Steve Rotherham has purchased new trains for Merseyrail using public funds. This has allowed them to specify the design of the trains to best suit the region and the passengers.’
