Clock is ticking: Govia Thameslink in rush to avoid nationalisation
Govia Thameslink, one of the UK’s biggest train operators, is reportedly rushing to secure a contract with co-owner Go-Ahead, in an effort to avoid nationalisation.
Nationalisation plans were proposed after Go-Ahead failed to file its financial results on Monday – the second time since the Southeastern rail scandal, when the group admitted serious errors and failures in the way it ran the operation.
Go-Ahead’s financial results will now be published by the end of February, a few weeks before the March deadline to secure the contracts.
While all stakeholders are reportedly confident a deal will be reached, other options – including extending the emergency funding deal set out during the pandemic to keep trains running and nationalisation – were considered.
“We are in discussions with the Department for Transport about a new contract to run Govia Thameslink,” a spokesperson told the Telegraph.
According to a Telegraph source, it’s fairly common for rail negotiations to “go down the wire.”
In early January, Go-Ahead’s shares were suspended, after the rail operator failed to publish its earnings for the year to 3 July 2021, missing the six-month deadline to file annual results and there suspending trading, Morning Wire reported.