UK government ends rail franchising system

Nearly a quarter of a century after the rail network was privatised, the government says it is ending the franchise system to simplify things for passengers.

As fewer people use trains during the pandemic, billions of pounds of taxpayer money has been used to plug the gap for the private companies that run the trains.

Today the Transport Secretary said the emergency support would continue for the foreseeable future as he scrapped the franchise model, brought in during the 1990s.

Our Economics Correspondent Helia Ebrahimi reports.