About us

DfT Operator Limited (DFTO) is the government’s public sector rail owning group. DFTO's purpose is to bring all currently privately-owned train operators into public ownership in advance of the creation of Great British Railways in 2027.


Responsibilities 

DfT Operator Limited (DFTO) is responsible for:

  • unifying train operators under common ownership – DFTO was given this mandate after the Royal Assent of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill 2024
  • delivering high-performing, safe and reliable services for passengers and best value for taxpayers, through closer integration with Network Rail and partners

The group’s current train operating companies are: 

  • London North Eastern Railway (LNER)
  • Northern 
  • Southeastern 
  • TransPennine Express (TPE)
  • South Western Railway (SWR) 
  • c2c
  • Greater Anglia

DFTO runs almost 8,000 services each weekday and delivers above 550 million customer journeys across its networks every year. This accounts for 33% of total GB passenger journeys.

Who is DFTO

DFTO has over 26,000 employees. DFTO’s operators have welcomed over 4,000 people to the railway family in the last year.

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