Since the current franchise started in 2003 Merseyrail shareholders have pocketed almost £250m in dividend windfalls – but from 2028 Mayor Steve Rotheram is set to bring the gravy train to a halt. Tony McDonough reports
Merseyrail will be taken back into full public control from 2028, ending a 25-year dividends bonanza.
Since acquiring the franchise to run the Liverpool city region rail network in 2003, Merseyrail has enriched shareholders to the tune of almost £250m. Over the last two years alone they have pocketed £70m.
However, city region Mayor Steve Rotheram has now revealed he will not be seeking another private operator when the current concession ends in 2028. Next week he will ask the Combined Authority to approve his plan to take Merseyrail back under public control.
“Since becoming Mayor, I’ve been determined to build a transport network that works better for the people who rely on it every day – one that’s easier to use, better connected and designed around passengers,” said Mr Rotheram.
“We’ve already introduced the country’s first publicly owned train fleet in a generation, delivered new rail stations, taken back control of our buses, rolled out tap-and-go ticketing and started laying the foundations for a rapid transit network.
“Now we have the opportunity to take back control of our trains too. Merseyrail is already one of the best-performing rail networks in the country and that’s a credit to the people who run it every day.
“But the challenge now isn’t simply running a successful railway – it’s bringing together all the different parts of our transport network so they work as one.”
Since the mayor was first elected, the Combined Authority has invested more than £500m in a new fleet of trains, delivered new stations at Maghull North and Headbolt Lane, and is progressing plans for four more stations across the Merseyrail network.
However, this week Mr Rotheram spoke of his frustration over delays to the building of a new station in the Baltic Triangle.
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Known as Merseyrail Electrics 2002, the company has two shareholders – Serco Group and Transport UK. The latter business was created in August 2022 following a UK-led management buyout of Abellio, the overseas division of Netherlands Railways.
Over more than two decades of the concession shareholder payouts have averaged more than £11m a year. Highest payout was £42m for the 12 months to January 6, 2024, when Merseyrail reported record pre-tax profits of just under £44m.
In the most recent set of accounts, for the 12 months to January 4, 2025, Merseyrail reported pre-tax profits of £31.2m and paid out £28m to its shareholders.
On Mondays to Saturdays Merseyrail operates 613 train services each day from its 69 stations across 120km of track (10.5km underground). It runs 375 services with more than 30m passenger journeys a year.