Rail transport in Great Britain
Trains atLondon Paddington in 2021, one of Great Britain's busiest stations
Operation
National railway	Great British Railways (planned from 2026)
Infrastructure company	Network Rail
Major operators	National Rail franchisees Open-access operators State-owned operators
Statistics
Ridership	1.612 billion (2023/24)[1]
Passenger km	37.3 mi (60.1 km) billion (2023/24)[2]
Freight	15.76 billion net tkm (2023/24)[3]
System length
Total	9,848 mi (15,849 km)[4]
Electrified	3,810 mi (6,130 km)[4]
Features
Longest tunnel	Channel Tunnel 31.35 mi (50.46 km) (partwise inFrance)
Longest bridge	London Bridge – Greenwich Railway Viaduct 3.45 mi (5.55 km)
No. stations	2,585[4]
Highest elevation	Pass of Drumochter (Highland Main Line) 1,484 ft (452 m)
at	56°51′16″N4°14′55″W / 56.85456°N 4.24858°W /56.85456; -4.24858
Map Map of Great Britain's rail transport infrastructure, showing number of tracks, electrification and maximum speed

The railway system inGreat Britain is the oldest railway system in the world. The first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825, which was followed by an era of rapid expansion. Most of the track is managed byNetwork Rail, which in 2024 had a network of 9,848 miles (15,849 km) ofstandard-gauge lines, of which 3,810 miles (6,130 km) wereelectrified.^[4] In addition, some cities have separate metro, light rail and tram systems, among them the historicLondon Underground and theGlasgow Subway. There are also manyprivate railways, some of themnarrow-gauge, which are primarily short lines for tourists. The main rail network is connected with that of continental Europe by theChannel Tunnel andHigh Speed 1, opened in 1994 and 2007 respectively.

In 2025, there were 1.728 billion journeys on theNational Rail network,^[1] making the British network thefifth most used in the world (Great Britain ranks 23rd in world population). Unlike a number of other countries, rail travel in the United Kingdom has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, with passenger numbers approaching their highest ever level (see usage figures below). This has coincided with theprivatisation of British Rail, but thecause of this increase is unclear. The growth is partly attributed to a shift away from private motoring due to growing road congestion and increasing petrol prices, but also to the overall increase in travel due to affluence.^[5] Passenger journeys in Britain grew by 88% over the period 1997–98 to 2014 as compared to 62% in Germany, 41% in France and 16% in Spain.^[6]

The United Kingdom is a member of theInternational Union of Railways (UIC). TheUIC country code for United Kingdom is 70. The UK has the17th largest railway network in the world; despite many lines having closed in the 20th century, due to theBeeching cuts, it remains one of the densest networks. It isone of the busiest railways inEurope, with 20% more train services thanFrance, 60% more thanItaly, and more thanSpain,Switzerland, theNetherlands,Portugal andNorway combined, as well as representing more than 20% of all passenger journeys in Europe.^[7] The rail industry employs 115,000 people and supports another 250,000 through its supply chain.^[8]

After the initial period of rapid expansion following the first public railways in the early 19th century, from about 1900 onwards the network suffered from gradual attrition, and more severe rationalisation in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the network has again been growing since the 1980s. The UK was ranked eighth among national European rail systems in the 2017 European Railway Performance Index for intensity of use, quality of service and safety performance.^[9]To cope with increasing passenger numbers, there is a largeprogramme of upgrades to the network, includingThameslink,Crossrail,electrification of lines,in-cab signalling, newinter-city trains and newhigh-speed lines.

According to historians David Brandon and Alan Brooke, the railways brought into being our modern world:

They stimulated demand for building materials, coal, iron and, later, steel. Excelling in the bulk movement of coal, they provided the fuel for the furnaces of industry and for domestic fireplaces. Millions of people were able to travel who had scarcely ever travelled before. Railways enabled mail, newspapers, periodicals and cheap literature to be distributed easily, quickly and cheaply allowing a much wider and faster dissemination of ideas and information. They had a significant impact on improving diet....[and enabled] a proportionately smaller agricultural industry was able to feed a much larger urban population....They employed huge quantities of labour both directly and indirectly. They helped Britain to become the 'Workshop of the World' by reducing transport costs not only of raw materials but of finished goods, large amounts of which were exported....[T]oday's global corporations originated with the great limited liability railway companies....By the third quarter of the nineteenth century, there was scarcely any person living in Britain whose life had not been altered in some way by the coming of the railways. Railways contributed to the transformation of Britain from a rural to a predominantly urban society.^[10]

The railways started with the local isolated wooden wagonways in 1560s using horses. These wagonways then spread, particularly in mining areas. The system was later built as a patchwork of local lines operated by small private railway companies. Over the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, these amalgamated or were bought by competitors until only a handful of larger companies remained (seeRailway Mania). The entire network was brought under government control during theFirst World War and a number of advantages of amalgamation and planning were revealed. However, the government resisted calls for thenationalisation of the network (first proposed by 19th century Prime MinisterWilliam Gladstone as early as the 1830s). Instead, from 1 January 1923, almost all the remaining companies weregrouped into the "big four": theGreat Western Railway, theLondon and North Eastern Railway, theLondon Midland and Scottish Railway and theSouthern Railway companies (there were also a number of otherjoint railways such as theMidland and Great Northern Joint Railway and theCheshire Lines Committee as well as special joint railways such as theForth Bridge Railway,Ryde Pier Railway and at one time theEast London Railway). The "Big Four" were joint-stock public companies and they continued to run the railway system until 31 December 1947.

The growth in road transport during the 1920s and 1930s greatly reduced revenue for the rail companies. Rail companies accused the government of favouring road haulage through the subsidised construction of roads. The railways entered a slow decline owing to a lack of investment and changes in transport policy and lifestyles. DuringWorld War II, the companies' managements joined, effectively forming one company. A maintenance backlog developed during the war and the private sector only had two years to deal with this after the war ended. After 1945, for both practical and ideological reasons, the government decided to bring the rail service into thepublic sector.

From the start of 1948, the "big four" werenationalised to form British Railways (latterlyBritish Rail) under the control of theBritish Transport Commission. Although BR was a single entity, it was divided into six (later five) regional authorities in accordance with the existing areas of operation. Though there were few initial changes to the service, usage increased and the network became profitable. Regeneration of track and railway stations was completed by 1954. In the same year, changes to the British Transport Commission, including the privatisation of road haulage, ended the coordination of transport in Great Britain. Rail revenue fell and in 1955 the network again ceased to be profitable. The mid-1950s saw the rapid introduction of diesel and electric rolling stock, but the expected transfer back from road to rail did not occur and losses began to mount.

The desire for profitability led to a major reduction in the network during the mid-1960s, withICI manager Dr.Richard Beeching commissioned by the government underErnest Marples with reorganising the railways. Many branch lines (and a number of main lines) were closed because they were deemed uneconomic ("theBeeching Axe" of 1963), removing much feeder traffic from main line passenger services. In the second Beeching report of 1965, only the "major trunk routes" were selected for large-scale investment, leading many to speculate the rest of the network would eventually be closed. This was never implemented by BR.

Passenger services experienced a renaissance with the introduction of theInterCity 125 trains in the 1970s. Passenger levels fluctuated since then, increasing during periods of economic growth and falling during recessions. The 1980s saw severe cuts in government funding and above-inflation increases in fares,^[11] In the early 1990s, the five geographical Regions were replaced by a Sectored organisation, in which passenger services were organised intoInterCity,Network SouthEast andRegional Railways sectors.

The Railways Act 1993^[12] divided the railways up, withRailtrack taking ownership of British Rail's property portfolio, tracks, signals, bridges and tunnels, Rolling Stock Operating Companies, and train operating companies.

Passenger transport services were bundled together into franchises to facilitate cross-subsidy within franchises, with many regulations on ticket prices and types, regulated fare increases and "Parliamentary service" obligations. Companies submitted bids to the franchising authority – often the Secretary of State for Transport, Passenger Transport Authority, or devolved government – competing for the lowest subsidy requirement and to invest in the railway over the lifespan of the franchise. There was also provision for subsidy between franchises, with profitable franchises demanding payments made to the government to cover a share of the losses from others. Examples of franchises includedScotRail,Great Western, andSouthern Trains.

Open Access Operators are free to devise their own services and set fares unaffected by government regulations. Examples of such operators areLumo andGrand Central,Hull Trains andHeathrow Express. In the case of theInterCity West Coast andInterCity East Coast franchises, applicants submitted bids to return the most money to the government from operating the service. This led to franchisees collapsing when passenger growth targets are not met, as promised payments to the government cannot be paid and the franchise is exited early.

In 2023, Network Rail held over £59.1 billion in debt, and made £1.176 billion of interest payments.^[13] Many of these debts were incurred by Railtrack and transferred to Network Rail when it collapsed.

British Rail operations were privatised during 1994–1997. Ownership of the track and infrastructure passed to Railtrack, whilst passenger operations were franchised to individual private sector operators (originally there were 25 franchises) and the goods services sold outright (six companies were set up, but five of these were sold to the same buyer). The government said privatisation would see an improvement in passenger services, and satisfaction (according to the National Rail Passenger survey) increased from 76% in 1999 (when the survey started) to 83% in 2013, and the number of passengers not satisfied with their journey had dropped from 10% to 6%.^[14] Since privatisation, passenger levels more than doubled, and surpassed their level in the late 1940s. Train fares cost 2.7% more than under British Rail in real terms on average.^[15] However, while the price of anytime and off-peak tickets increased, the price of Advance tickets dramatically decreased in real terms: the average Advance ticket in 1995 cost £9.14 (in 2014 prices) compared to £5.17 in 2014.^[16]

Rail subsidies increased from £3.4bn in 1992–93 to £4.5bn in 2015–16 (in current prices), although subsidy per journey fell from £4.57 per journey to £2.61 per journey.^[15][17] However, this masked great regional variation, as in 2014–15 funding varied from "£1.41 per passenger journey in England to £6.51 per journey in Scotland and £8.34 per journey in Wales."^[17]

The public image of rail travel was severely damaged by a series of significant accidents after privatisation. These included theHatfield accident, caused by a rail fragmenting due to the development of microscopic cracks. Following this, the rail infrastructure company Railtrack imposed over 1,200 emergency speed restrictions across its network and instigated a costly nationwide track replacement programme. The consequent severe operational disruption to the national network and the company's spiralling costs set in motiona series of events which resulted in the collapse of the company and its replacement with Network Rail, a state-owned^[18] "not-for-profit" company, with risks underwritten by the taxpayer. According to theEuropean Railway Agency, in 2013 Britain had the safest railways in Europe based on the number of train safety incidents.^[19]

In 2003 the first part ofHigh Speed 1, a high-speed link to theChannel Tunnel and onward to France and Belgium, was completed, significantly adding to the rail infrastructure of the country. The rest of the link, from north Kent toLondon St Pancras, opened in 2007. A major programme of remedial work on theWest Coast Main Line started in 1997 and finished in 2008.^[20]

Since the 2010s, several upgrades have been undertaken, such asThameslink,Crossrail, theNorthern Hub and electrification of theGreat Western Main Line. Electrification plans for theMidland Main Line and theTranspennine line between Manchester and Leeds were scaled back. Construction ofHigh Speed 2 between London and Birmingham began in 2020, and as of 2025^[update] completion is expected sometime beyond 2033.^[21] Plans to extend the high-speed network to Manchester and Leeds were abandoned on cost grounds between 2021 and 2023.^[22]

A poll of 1,500 adults in Britain in June 2018 showed that 64% supported renationalising Britain's railways.^[23]

Currently, six franchises are under public ownership, and thus effectively nationalised. Four,LNER,Northern Trains,Southeastern andTransPennine Express, areoperators of last resort owned by theDepartment for Transport.Transport for Wales Rail is owned byTransport for Wales, aWelsh Government owned company, with no current plans to re-privatise the latter. On 1 April 2022,ScotRail was put under public ownership by theScottish Government, underTransport Scotland asScotRail operating on the same day.

TheCOVID-19 pandemic caused a huge fall in the number of passengers using the railways, with journeys in 2020 being about 22% of the previous year, before rising again as travel restrictions eased.^[24] During 2020, alltrain operating companies entered into emergency measures agreements with the UK and Scottish governments.^[25] Normal franchise mechanisms were amended, transferring almost all revenue and cost risk to the government, effectively 'renationalising' the network temporarily.^[26]

In September 2020, the UK Government permanently got rid of the rail franchising system.^[27] On 20 May 2021, the Government announced a white paper that would transform the operation of the railways. The rail network will be partly renationalised, with infrastructure and operations brought together under the state-owned public bodyGreat British Railways. Operations will be managed on a concessions model. According to the BBC, this represents the largest shake-up in the UK's railways since privatisation.^[27] On 18 November 2021, the government announced the biggest ever public investment in Britain's rail network costing £96 billion and promising quicker and more frequent rail connections in the North and Midlands: theIntegrated Rail Plan includes substantially improved connections north–south as well as east–west and includes three new high speed lines.^[28]

In July 2024, the newLabour government confirmed thatpassenger services would be brought back into public ownership upon the expiry of their contracts as part of the wider renationalisation of the rail network.^[29]

Passenger services in Great Britain were divided into regional franchises and run by mostly private (that is, non-state owned)train operating companies from 1995 to 2020. These companies bid for seven- to eight-year contracts to run individual franchises. Most contracts in England were awarded by theDepartment for Transport (DfT), with the exception ofMerseyrail, where the franchise is awarded by theMerseyside Passenger Transport Executive. In Scotland, contracts forScotRail are awarded byTransport Scotland, andin Wales, contracts forTransport for Wales Rail are awarded byTransport for Wales, although the latter is currently publicly owned with no plans for franchising in the near future and ScotRail was brought into public ownership in 2022. Initially there were 25 franchises, but some franchises were later combined and others nationalised. There are also a number of local or specialised rail services operated on anopen access basis outside the franchise arrangements; examples includeHeathrow Express andHull Trains.

Many franchises were effectively abolished due to the financial effects of theCOVID-19 pandemic.

The UK government proposed a new state-owned public body,Great British Railways, which would operate aconcession contract system on the network from 2023.^[30] In November 2025, the DfT introduced the Railways Bill to establish Great British Railways which is set to be fully operational by late 2026. The bill is part of a broader strategy to create a more unified and straightforward rail system by putting infrastructure management and passenger services into public ownership.^[31]

In the 2015–16 operating year, franchised services provided 1,718 million journeys totalling (64.7 billion billion passenger km) of travel, an increase over 1994–5 of 117% in journeys (from 761 million) and just over doubling the passenger miles.^[32] The passenger-miles figure, after being flat from 1965 to 1995, surpassed the 1947 figure for the first time in 1998 and continued to rise steeply.

The key index used to assess passenger train performance is thePublic Performance Measure, which combines figures for punctuality and reliability. From a base of 90% of trains arriving on time in 1998, the measure dipped to 75% in mid-2001 due to stringent safety restrictions put in place after theHatfield crash in October 2000. However, in June 2015 the PPM stood at 91.2% after a period of steady increases in the annual moving average since 2003 until around 2012 when the improvements levelled off.^[33]

Train fares cost 2.7% more than underBritish Rail in real terms on average.^[15] For some years, Britain has been said to have the highest rail fares in Europe, with peak-time and season tickets considerably higher than other countries, partly becauserail subsidies in Europe are higher.^[34][35] However, passengers are also able to obtain some of the cheapest fares in Europe if they book in advance for travel at off-peak times^[34] or purchase 'day-return' tickets which cost little more than a single ticket.

UK rail operators point out rail fare increases have been at a substantially lower rate than petrol prices for private motoring.^[5] The difference in price has also been blamed on the fact Britain has the most restrictiveloading gauge (maximum width and height of trains that can fit through tunnels, bridges etc.) in the world which means the trains must be significantly narrower and less tall than those used elsewhere. This means trains cannot be bought "off-the-shelf" and must be specially built to fit British standards.

Average rolling-stock age fell slightly from the third quarter of 2001–02 to 2017–18, from 20.7 years old to 19.6 years old, and large orders fromBombardier and its acquirerAlstom, as well asCAF,Hitachi andStadler, brought down the average age to around 15 years by March 2021.^[36][37]

Although passengers rarely have cause to refer to either document, all travel is subject to theNational Rail Conditions of Travel and all tickets are valid subject to the rules set out in a number of so-calledtechnical manuals, which are centrally produced for the network.

Below are the estimated total number of journeys using heavy rail transport in Britain for each financial year. (This table does not include Eurostar, Underground or light rail services)

Annual journey numbers^[1]

Year	Numbers[nb 1]	% change
2004–2005	1,044,566,371
2005–2006	1,081,747,031	3.59
2006–2007	1,150,271,272	6.77
2007–2008	1,223,235,485	6.36
2008–2009	1,271,934,558	3.10
2009–2010	1,264,168,068	7.62
2010–2011	1,350,664,449	6.84
2011–2012	1,456,276,046	7.82
2012–2013	1,497,670,627	2.84
2013–2014	1,583,380,750	5.72
2014–2015	1,650,407,344	4.23
2015–2016	1,713,518,682	3.82
2016–2017	1,727,475,717	0.81
2017–2018	1,703,998,197	1.36
2018–2019	1,752,982,619	2.87
2019–2020	1,738,739,779	0.81
2020–2021	387,885,468	77.69
2021–2022	990,050,962	155.24
2022–2023	1,384,786,829	39.87
2023–2024	1,611,953,591	16.40

The following table is according to the Office of Rail and Road and includesopen access operators such asGrand Central andHull Trains.

Annual passenger numbers (millions)^[38]

Year	Long distance	London and South East	Regional	Non-franchised operators	Total	Total % change
2002–2003	77.2	679.1	219.2	0	975.5
2003–2004	81.5	690.0	240.2		1,011.7	3.71
2004–2005	83.7	704.5	251.3		1,039.5	2.75
2005–2006	89.5	719.7	267.3		1,076.5	3.56
2006–2007	99.0	769.5	276.5		1,145.0	6.36
2007–2008	103.9	828.4	285.8		1,218.1	6.38
2008–2009	109.4	854.3	302.8		1,266.5	3.97
2009–2010	111.6	842.2	304.0	1.4	1,259.3	0.68
2010–2011	117.9	917.6	318.2	1.8	1,355.6	7.65
2011–2012	125.3	993.8	340.9	1.5	1,461.5	7.82
2012–2013	127.7	1,032.4	340.9	1.7	1,502.6	2.81
2013–2014	129.0	1,106.9	350.5	1.9	1,588.3	5.70
2014–2015	134.2	1,154.9	364.7	2.1	1,655.8	4.25
2015–2016	138.3	1,202.8	374.2	2.3	1,717.6[39]	3.72
2016–2017	143.5	1,196.8	388.7	2.4	1,731.5	0.80
2017–2018	144.8	1,171.2	389.6	2.4	1,707.9	1.40
2018–2019	146.7	1,216.9	392.8	2.5	1,759.9	3.0

There are 2,585 passenger railway stations on the Network Rail network.^[4] This does not include theLondon Underground, nor other systems which are not part of the national network, such as heritage railways. Most date from theVictorian era and a number are in or on the edge oftown and city centres. Major stations lie for the most part in large cities, with the largest conurbations (e.g. Birmingham, Bristol,Cardiff, Edinburgh,Glasgow,Liverpool, andManchester) typically having more than one main station. London is a major hub of the network, with 12 main-line termini forming a "ring" aroundcentral London. Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Bristol andReading are major interchanges for many cross-country journeys that do not involve London. However, some important railway junction stations lie in smaller cities and towns, for exampleYork,Crewe andEly. Some other places expanded into towns and cities because of the railway network.Swindon, for example, was little more than a village before theGreat Western Railway chose to site its locomotive works there. In many instances geography, politics or military considerations originally caused stations to be sited further from the towns they served until, with time, these issues could be overcome (for example,Portsmouth had its original station atGosport).

High-speed inter-city rail (above 124 mph or 200 km/h) was first introduced in Great Britain in the 1970s by British Rail. BR had pursued two development projects in parallel, the development of atilting train technology, theAdvanced Passenger Train (APT), and development of a conventional high-speed diesel train, theHigh Speed Train (HST). The APT project was abandoned, but the HST design entered service as theBritish Rail Classes 253, 254 and 255 trains. The prototype HST, theClass 252, reached a world speed record for diesel trains of 143.2 mph (230.5 km/h), while the main fleet entered service limited to a service speed of 125 mph, and were introduced progressively on main lines across the country, with a rebranding of their services as theInterCity 125.

With electrification of theEast Coast Main Line, high-speed rail in Great Britain was augmented with the introduction of theClass 91, intended for passenger service at up to 140 mph (230 km/h), and thus branded as theInterCity 225. The Class 91 units were designed for a maximum service speed of 140 mph, and running at this speed was trialled with a 'flashing green' signal aspect under theBritish signalling system. The trains were eventually limited to the same speed as the HST, to 125 mph, with higher speeds deemed to requirecab signalling, which as of 2010 was not in place on the normal British railway network (but was used on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link). A final attempt by the nationalised British Rail at High Speed Rail was the cancelledInterCity 250 project in the 1990s for the West Coast Main Line.

Post privatisation, a plan to upgrade theWest Coast Main Line to speeds of up to 140 mph with infrastructure improvements were finally abandoned, although the tilting trainClass 390Pendolino fleet designed for this maximum speed of service were still built and entered service in 2002, and operates limited to 125 mph. Other routes in the UK were upgraded with trains capable of top speeds of up to 125 mph running with the introduction between 2000 and 2005 ofClass 180Adelante DMUs and theBombardier Voyager DEMUs (Classes220,221 and222).

The first implementation of high-speed rail up to 186 mph in regular passenger service in Great Britain was the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now known asHigh Speed 1), when its first phase opened in 2003 linking the British end of theChannel Tunnel atFolkestone with Fawkham Junction in Kent. This is used by international only passenger trains for theEurostar service, usingClass 373 andClass 374 trains. The line was later extended all the way intoLondon St Pancras in 2007.

After the building of the first of a newClass 395 train fleet for use partly on High Speed 1 and parts of the rest of the UK rail network, the first domestic high-speed running over 125 mph (to about 140 mph) began in December 2009, including a special Olympic Javelin shuttle for the2012 Summer Olympics. These services are operated by theSouth Eastern franchise.

The Intercity Express Programme for replacement of the domestic fleet of InterCity 125 and 225 trains on the existing national network was announced. In 2009 it was announced that the preferred rolling stock option for this project was the Hitachi Super Express family of multiple units, and they entered service in 2017 on the Great Western Main Line and in 2019 on the East Coast Main Line. The trains will be capable of a maximum speed of 140 mph with "minor modifications", with the necessary signalling modifications required of theNetwork Rail infrastructure in Britain likely to come from the phased rollout of the Europe-wideEuropean Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).

Following several studies and consultations on high-speed rail, in 2009 the UK Government formally announced theHigh Speed 2 project, establishing a company to produce a feasibility study to examine route options and financing for a new high-speed railway in the UK. This study began on the assumption the route would be a new purpose-built high-speed line connected to High-Speed 1 to the Channel tunnel and from London to theWest Midlands, viaHeathrow Airport, relieving traffic on theWest Coast Main Line (WCML). Conventional high-speed rail technology would be used as opposed toMaglev. The rolling stock would be capable of travelling on the existingNetwork Rail infrastructure if required, with the route intersecting with the existing WCML and the East Coast Main Line (ECML). A cancelled second phase of the project was planned to reach further north to Manchester, Sheffield and Leeds, as well as linking into theMidland Main Line.

In June 2014, the chancellor of the Exchequer,George Osborne, proposed a high-speed rail linkNorthern Powerhouse Rail (also known as High Speed 3 or High Speed North) between Liverpool and Newcastle/Sheffield/Hull. The line would use the existing route between Liverpool and Newcastle/Hull and a new route from to Sheffield will follow the same route to Manchester Victoria and then a new line from Victoria to Sheffield, with additional tunnels and other infrastructure.

As of August 2023^[update], the following rolling stock on the British network is capable of 125 mph (200 km/h) or more:

In 2011, the fastest timetabled start-to-stop run by a UK domestic train service was theHull Trains 07.30King's Cross toHull, which covered the 125.4 km (77.9 miles) fromStevenage toGrantham in 42 minutes at an average speed of 179.1 km/h (111.3 mph). This was operated by aClass 180 diesel unit running "under the wires" at the time, and is now operated byClass 802Paragon bi-mode units, operating on electric power on this section. This was matched by severalLeeds to LondonClass 91-operatedEast Coast trains if their two-minute recovery allowance for this section is excluded from the public timetable.^[42]

A number of towns and cities haverapid transit networks. Underground technology is used in theGlasgow subway,Merseyrail centred on Liverpool,London Underground centred on London,London Overground and theLondon Docklands Light Railway centred on London, and theTyne and Wear Metro centred onNewcastle upon Tyne.

Light rail systems in the form of trams are inBirmingham,Croydon,Manchester,Nottingham,Sheffield andEdinburgh. These systems use a combination of street running tramways and, where available, reserved right of way or former conventional rail lines in some suburbs.Blackpool has the one remaining traditional tram system. Monorails, heritage tramways, miniature railways and funiculars also exist in several places. In addition, there are a number of heritage (mainly steam) standard and narrow gauge railways, and a few industrial railways and tramways. Some lines which appear to be heritage operations sometimes claim to be part of the public transport network; theRomney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent regularly transports schoolchildren.

Most major cities have some form ofcommuter rail network. These includeBelfast, Birmingham, Bristol,Cardiff, Edinburgh,Exeter,Glasgow,Leeds, Liverpool, London andManchester.

There are four maingoods operating companies in the UK, the largest of which isDB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker, formerly English Welsh & Scottish (EWS)). There are also several smaller independent operators includingMendip Rail. Types of freight carried includeintermodal – in essence containerised freight – and coal, metals, oil, and construction materials. The Beeching Cuts, in contrast to passenger services, greatly modernised the goods sector, replacing inefficient wagons with containerised regional hubs.^[45] Freight services had been in steady decline since the 1930s, initially because of the reduction in manufacturing and then road haulage's cost advantage in combination with higher wages.^[46][47] Since 1995, however, the amount offreight carried on the railways has increased sharply due to increased reliability and competition, as well as international services.^[46][48] In 2000, theDepartment for Transport'sTransport Ten Year Plan called for an 80% increase in rail freight.^[49]

Statistics on freight are specified in terms of the weight of freight lifted, and thenet tonne kilometre, being freight weight multiplied by distance carried. 116.6 million tonnes of freight was lifted in the 2013–4 period, against 138 million tonnes in 1986–7, a decrease of 16%.^[50] However, a record 22.7 billion net tonne kilometres (14 billion net ton miles) of freight movement were recorded in 2013–4, against 16.6 billion (10.1 billion) in 1986–7, an increase of 38%.^[50] Coal made up 36% of the totalnet tonne kilometre, though its share was declining.^[51] Rail freight had increased its market share since privatisation (by net tonne kilometres) from 7.4% in 1998 to 11.1% in 2013.^[52] Growth was partly due to more international services including the Channel Tunnel andPort of Felixstowe, which is containerised.^[53] Nevertheless, as of 2008, network bottlenecks and insufficient investment in catering for 9' 6" high shipping containers restricted growth.^[48]

A symbolic loss to the rail freight industry in Great Britain was the custom of theRoyal Mail, which from 2004 discontinued use of its 49-train fleet, and switched to road haulage after a near 170-year-preference for trains.Mail trains had long been part of the tradition of the railways in Great Britain, famously celebrated in the filmNight Mail, for whichW. H. Auden wrote the poem of the same name. Although Royal Mail suspended mail trains in January 2004, this decision was reversed in December of the same year, andClass 325s are now used on some routes including between London,Warrington and Scotland.^{[citation needed]}

At the time of privatisation, the rolling stock ofBritish Rail was sold to the new operators, as in the case of the freight companies, or to the three ROSCOs (rolling stock companies) which lease or hire stock to passenger and freight train operators. Leasing is relatively commonplace in transport since it enables operating companies to avoid the complication associated with raising sufficient capital to purchase assets; instead, assets are leased and paid for from ongoing revenue. Since 1994 there has been a growth in smaller spot-hire companies that provide rolling stock on short-term contracts. Many of these have grown thanks to the selling-off of locomotives by the large freight operators, especially EWS.

Unlike other major players in the privatised railway system of Great Britain, the ROSCOs are not subject to close regulation by the economic regulatory authority. They were expected to compete with one another, and they do, although not in all respects.

Since privatisation in 1995, the ROSCOs have faced criticism from several quarters – including passenger train operating companies such asGNER,Arriva andFirstGroup – on the basis they are acting as an oligopoly to keep lease prices higher than they would be in a competitive market. In 1998, Deputy Prime MinisterJohn Prescott asked rail regulatorJohn Swift to investigate the market's operation and make recommendations. Many believed Prescott favoured much closer regulation of the ROSCOs, perhaps bringing them into the net of contract-specific regulation, i.e., requiring every rolling stock lease to be approved by the Rail Regulator before it could be valid. Swift's report did not find major problems with the operation of what was then an infant market, and instead recommended the ROSCOs sign up to voluntary, non-binding codes of practice in relation to their future behaviour. Prescott did not like this, but he did not have the legislative time allocation to do much about it. Swift's successor as Rail Regulator,Tom Winsor, agreed with Swift and the ROSCOs were happy to go along with codes of practice, coupled with the Rail Regulator's new powers to deal with abuse of dominance and anti-competitive behaviour under theCompetition Act 1998. In establishing these codes, the Rail Regulator made it clear he expected the ROSCOs to adhere to their letter and spirit. The codes of practice were duly put in place and for the next five years the Rail Regulator received no complaints about ROSCO behaviour.

In July 2004, the DFT's White Paper on the future of the railways expressed dissatisfaction with the operation of the rolling stock leasing market, and the belief there may have been excessive pricing on the part of the ROSCOs.

In June 2006,Gwyneth Dunwoody, chair of theTransport Select Committee of theHouse of Commons, called for an investigation into the companies.^[54] Transport commentatorChristian Wolmar has asserted the high cost of leasing is due to the way the franchises are distributed to the train operating companies. While the TOCs are negotiating for a franchise they have some freedom to propose different rolling stock options. It is only once they have won the franchise, however, they start negotiating with the ROSCOs. The ROSCO will know the TOC's requirements and also knows the TOC has to obtain a fixed mix of rolling stock which puts the train operating company at a disadvantage in its negotiations with the ROSCO.^[55]

On 29 November 2006, following a June 2006 complaint by the DfT alleging excessive pricing by the ROSCOs, theOffice of Rail Regulation (as it was then called) announced it was minded to refer the operation of the market for passenger rolling stock to theCompetition Commission, citing, amongst other factors, problems in the DfT's own franchising policy as responsible for what may be regarded as a dysfunctional market. ORR said it will consult the industry and the public on what to do, and will publish its decision in April 2007. If the ORR does refer the market to the Competition Commission, there may well be a hiatus in investment in new rolling stock whilst the ROSCOs and their parent companies wait to hear what return they will be allowed to make on their train fleets. This could have theunintended consequence of intensifying the problem of overcrowding on some routes because TOCs will be unable to lengthen their trains or acquire new ones if they need the ROSCOs to co-operate in their acquisition or financing. Some commentators have suggested that such an outcome would be detrimental to the public interest. This is especially striking since theNational Audit Office, in its November 2006 report on the renewal and upgrade of the West Coast Main Line, said that the capacity of the trains and the network will be full in the next few years and advocated train lengthening as an important measure to cope with sharply higher passenger numbers.

The Competition Commission conducted an investigation and published provisional findings^[56] on 7 August 2008. The report was published on 7 April 2009.^[57] A press release summarised the recommendations as follows:^[58]

• introduce longer franchise terms (in the region of 12 to 15 years or longer), which would allow TOCs to realise the benefits and recover the costs of switching to alternative new or used rolling stock over a longer period, which should increase the incentives and ability for TOCs to exercise choice
• assess the benefits of alternative new or used rolling stock proposals beyond the franchise term and across other franchises when evaluating franchise bids. This will encourage a wider choice of rolling stock to be considered in franchise proposals, irrespective of franchise length
• ensure franchise invitations to tender (ITTs) are specified in such a way franchise bidders are allowed a choice of rolling stock
• requiring the ROSCOs to remove non-discrimination requirements from the Codes of Practice, which would provide greater incentives for the TOCs to seek improved terms from the ROSCOs
• requiring rolling stock lessors to provide TOCs with a set list of information when making a lease rental offer for used rolling stock, which would give TOCs the ability to negotiate more effectively

Three companies took overBritish Rail's rolling stock on privatisation:

• Angel Trains – has 4,400 vehicles in the UK owned byAMP Capital Investors, PSP Investments andInternational Public Partnerships.
• Eversholt Rail Group – owns a fleet of over 4,000 vehicles and is owned byCK Hutchison Holdings andCheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings.
• Porterbrook – leases some 3,500 locomotives, trains and freight wagons; owned by a consortium includingAlberta Investment Management Corporation,Allianz,Électricité de France and Vantage Infrastructure.

A number of other companies have since entered the leasing market. These include:

• Sovereign Trains – part of the same group as the open-access operatorGrand Central. Sovereign Trains owned the rolling stock operated by Grand Central. Dissolved after the stock was sold to Angel Trains.^[59]
• QW Rail Leasing – a joint venture between theNational Australia Bank andSMBC Leasing & Finance to provide the EMU rolling stock toLondon Overground.
• Macquarie European Rail – in April 2009,Lloyds TSB entered the rolling stock market by funding the purchase of 30 newClass 379s forNational Express East Anglia. In November 2012, Lloyds sold the company toMacquarie Group.
• Beacon Rail^[60] ownsClass 68 andClass 88 locomotives, as well asClass 220,Class 313 andClass 221 DMUs.^[61][62]
• UK Rail Leasing owns someClass 56 locomotives.
• Rock Rail owns Class 717 Siemens Desiro EMUs in service on Govia Thameslink Railway's Great Northern routes, Stadler Flirt Class 745 EMUs and Class 755 BMUs on Abellio's Greater Anglia franchise, Bombardier Aventra Class 701 EMUs on FirstGroup and MTR's South Western franchise, Hitachi Intercity BMUs for service on Abellio's East Midlands franchise and Hitachi Intercity EMUs and BMUs for service on First Group and Trenitalia's Avanti West Coast franchise.^[63]

Spot-hire companies provide short-term leasing of rolling stock.

• MiddlePeak Railways, a locomotive hire & lease company with a stock of locomotives similar toClass 08 &NS 0-6-0600 Class shunting locomotives, other locomotives, rolling stock & parts.^[64][65]
• GL Railease, owned byGATX Capital and Lombard, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
• Harry Needle Railroad Company, an industrial and main line locomotive hire and overhaul company. OperatesClass 08 shunting locomotives, andClass 20 locomotives.^[66]
• Riviera Trains, a spot-hire company with a fleet ofClass 47 locomotives. This company works closely withDB Cargo UK.^[67]
• West Coast Railways, a spot-hire and railtour operator with a stock ofClass 37 andClass 47 locomotives, as well as the rebuiltClass 57 locomotive.
• Eastern Rail Services, a rolling stock spot-hire company, providing leasing and hire, acquisition, parts supply and overhaul and technical advice.

Railways in Great Britain are in the private sector, but they are subject to control by central government, and to economic and safety regulation by arms of government.

In 2006, using powers in theRailways Act 2005, the DfT took over most of the functions of the now wound upStrategic Rail Authority. The DfT now itself runs competitions for the award of passenger rail franchises, and, once awarded, monitors and enforces the contracts with the private sector franchisees. Franchises specify the passenger rail services which are to be run and the quality and other conditions (for example, the cleanliness of trains, station facilities and opening hours, the punctuality and reliability of trains) which the operators have to meet. Some franchises receive a subsidy from the DfT for doing so, and some are cash-positive, which means the franchisee pays the DfT for the contract. Some franchises start life as subsidised and, over their life, move to being cash-positive.

The other regulatory authority for the privatised railway is theOffice of Rail and Road (previously the Office of Rail Regulation), which, following the Railways Act 2005, is the combined economic and safety regulator. It replaced theRail Regulator on 5 July 2004. TheRail Safety and Standards Board still exists, however; established in 2003 on the recommendations of a public inquiry, it leads the industry's progress in health and safety matters.

The principal modern railway statutes are:

• Railways Act 1993
• Competition Act 1998 (insofar as it confers competition powers on the Office of Rail and Road)
• Transport Act 2000
• Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003
• Railways Act 2005

• Office of Rail and Road
• Department for Transport
• UK Notified Bodies

• Transport Scotland
• Transport for Wales

• Railtrack (1996–2002)
• Network Rail (2002–) – (A "not for dividend" company limited by guarantee)

• Institution of Railway Operators
• Rail Delivery Group
• Rail Freight Group
• Rail Passengers Council and Committees
• Rail Safety and Standards Board
• Rail Forum Midlands
• Railway Industry Association
• Railway Mission
• Railway Study Association

The railways are one of the most heavily unionised industrial sectors in the UK.

• Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF)
• National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT)
• Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA)

SeePassenger transport executive

• Transport for West Midlands
• TfGM (Transport for Greater Manchester)
• Merseytravel
• Metro (West Yorkshire Metro)
• Nexus (Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive)
• Travel South Yorkshire (South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive)
• SPT (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport)
• TfL (Transport for London)

SeeList of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom.

• GB Railfreight
• DB Cargo UK
• Freightliner
• Direct Rail Services
• Colas Rail
• Devon and Cornwall Railways
• Mendip Rail

• Eurostar
• Grand Central
• Heathrow Express
• Hull Trains
• Venice-Simplon Orient Express (VSOE)
• Lumo (train operating company)

This is only the earliest of the main line openings: for a more comprehensive list of the hundreds of early railways seeList of early British railway companies

• Stockton and Darlington Railway (1825) – First steam-hauled passenger railway in the world.
• Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (1830) – First steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets.
• Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830) – First InterCity passenger railway.
• Grand Junction Railway (1833) – The line built by the company was the first trunk railway to be completed in England, and arguably the world's first long-distance railway with steam traction.
• London and Greenwich Railway (1836) – First steam railway in the capital, the first to be built specifically for passengers, and the first elevated railway.
• London and Birmingham Railway (1837) – First Intercity line to be built into London.
• Midland Counties Railway (1839)
• Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway (BDJR) (1839)
• North Midland Railway (1840)
• Taff Vale Railway (1840)

Many lines closed by British Railways, including many closed during theBeeching cuts, have been restored and reopened asheritage railways. A few have been relaid as narrow-gauge but the majority are standard-gauge. Most use both steam and diesel locomotives for haulage. Most heritage railways are operated as tourist attractions and do not provide regular year-round train services.

Several pressure groups are campaigning for the re-opening of closed railway lines in Great Britain. These include:

• Marlow Branch (Bourne End–High Wycombe)^[68]
• Cambridge–Oxford,East West Rail^[69] This project was approved by the Government in November 2011.
• Carmarthen-Aberystwyth line
• Colne–Skipton,Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership^[70]
• Great Central Railway Notts–Leicester
• Lynn and Hunstanton Railway^[71]
• Peak Rail: (Matlock–Bakewell). Under-funded line
• Portishead Railway fromPortishead toBristol Temple Meads^[72]
• South Staffordshire Line (Stourbridge–Walsall-Lichfield)
• St Andrews Rail Link (Leuchars–St Andrews)
• Wealden Line (Uckfield–Lewes)^[73]
• Woodhead Line (Hadfield–Penistone)
• York to Beverley Line (York–Beverley)

From 1995 until 2009, 27 new lines (totalling 199 track miles) and 68 stations were opened, with 65 further new station sites identified byNetwork Rail or government for possible construction.^[74]On 15 June 2009 theAssociation of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) published the reportConnecting Communities: Expanding Access to the Rail Network, detailing schemes around England where it believed there was a commercial business case for passenger network expansion. The published proposals involved the re-opening or new construction of 40 stations, serving communities with populations of over 15,000, including 14 schemes involving the re-opening or reconstruction of rail lines for passenger services. These would be short-lead-time local projects, to be completed in timescales ranging from 2 years 9 months to 6 years, once approved bylocal andregional governments, Network Rail and theDepartment for Transport, complementing existing long-term national projects.^[75][76]

This is a list of towns in England that do not have any sort of rail service. Services taken into account includeNational Rail,tram and metro services such as theManchester Metrolink or theTyne and Wear Metro. The first list is of separate towns. The second is of towns that form part of largerconurbations.

• Great Britain (1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) instandard gauge)
  • France (Eurostar) via theChannel Tunnel
    formerly byTrain ferries.
  • Belgium (Eurostar) via France using theChannel Tunnel.
  • Netherlands (Eurostar) via France and Belgium using theChannel Tunnel.

There are notrain ferries in operation, but some rail services are integrated withferries:

• Netherlands –Dutchflyer rail/sea/rail service
• Ireland –SailRail service via Holyhead, Cairnryan or Fishguard

• National Rail Official UK Rail timetable site
• National Rail maps pageArchived 21 June 2009 at theWayback Machine UK railway maps

• Post-privatisation British railway companies
• Rail transport in Great Britain

• CS1 maint: archived copy as title
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from August 2019
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• CS1 errors: missing title
• CS1: unfit URL
• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from January 2023
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from January 2023
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles using infobox templates with no data rows
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2025
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from August 2023
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from July 2025
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2022
• Pages using Sister project links with wikidata mismatch