State investors from Hong Kong, which has a stake in Crossrail — and, until recently, London Overground — and Qatar, which part-owns Heathrow Express, also have interests in UK rail.
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald condemned the “bizarre structure of our system that means the only nation state on the planet that can’t be involved in running British railways is our own.”
He added: “Millions of pounds are leaking out of the system to support state-owned railways elsewhere. That money should be available to improve services and cut fares.”
Of Keolis’ stake in Govia, he added: “It is helping to run the worst service in the UK — even before the strikes — yet it wants to take critical people off the trains to make even more profit.”
A spokesman for train union Aslef said: “The system, which palpably isn’t working, is haemorrhaging money which could otherwise be used to bring down fares or invest in infrastructure. When the East Coast was in public hands it returned £1 billion to the Treasury.”
