28 September 2026
RMT Press Office:
RMT today welcomed Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander’s announcement that Great British Railways will be allowed to buy and own its trains ‘where it can provide value for money’.
Under rail privatisation Railway Rolling Stock Companies (ROSCOs), which leases trains to the network at hugely inflated prices, became a byword for profiteering and currently remain in place.
Last year dividends paid out by ROSCO Angel Trains to its owners reached £111 million, while another Eversholt, owned by a company registered in the Cayman Islands, paid out £200 million.
RMT general secretary Eddie Dempsey said that the private ownership and leasing of trains had always been one of the greatest scandals of rail privatisation.
“The cost of leasing trains is the fastest rising cost on the railway, and topped £4 billion last year, while dividend payments continue to raise.
“ROSCO greed has become infamous and it’s sucking much needed money out of the railways and into offshore bank accounts.
“There is another way, Merseyrail has owned its trains for years now and its good news that GBR will be able to do so too.
“This should be the start of a process of winding up the rolling stock racket once and for all,” he said.
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