Riding the ROSCO gravy train | We Own It

  • “Every time you buy a ticket to travel, a proportion of the cost goes on paying the rent being charged by the ROSCOs to the train lines.” ⤴️
  • “The three private ROSCOs are Angel Trains, Eversholt, and Porterbrook.” ⤴️
  • “last year the profits of the ROSCOs, UK’s private train-leasing firms, tripled from £122.3m to £409.7m.” ⤴️
  • “those three same ROSCOs own most of the 15,200 vehicles that are registered to run on Britain’s railways” ⤴️
  • “Angel Trains is 64% owned by Canadian pension fund the Public Sector Pension Investment Board” ⤴️
  • “its chief executive, was paid £900k.” ⤴️
  • “CK Group. Their portfolio of UK companies also includes Northumbrian Water and UK Power Networks, which delivers electricity to London and the East and South East of England.” ⤴️
  • “Profits which over the years could have gone into building up to 1,000 new vehicles have instead been syphoned off to keep investors satisfied.” ⤴️
  • “Porterbrook is 30% owned by AIMCO, a Canadian pension fund; 30% by Allianz, a German insurance firm; 30% by asset management firms in Israel and the UK; and 10% by EDF which is owned by the French state.” ⤴️
  • “The effect of the ROSCO monopoly, combined with a leasing model which discourages the companies from investing in their assets, means that the supply line of new rolling stock is choked and the average age of the existing stock has increased” ⤴️
  • “any shortfall between their revenue and their costs has to be met out of the public purse. This means we’re subsidising the rental cost of the rolling stock” ⤴️
  • “Their complex financial arrangements are also very hard to untangle; which is possibly why Labour have not given the same commitment to bring ROSCOs in house that they have for the train operating companies.” ⤴️
  • “Every time you buy a ticket to travel, a proportion of the cost goes on paying the rent being charged by the ROSCOs to the train lines.” ⤴️
  • “The three private ROSCOs are Angel Trains, Eversholt, and Porterbrook.” ⤴️
  • “last year the profits of the ROSCOs, UK’s private train-leasing firms, tripled from £122.3m to £409.7m.” ⤴️
  • “those three same ROSCOs own most of the 15,200 vehicles that are registered to run on Britain’s railways” ⤴️
  • “Angel Trains is 64% owned by Canadian pension fund the Public Sector Pension Investment Board” ⤴️
  • “its chief executive, was paid £900k.” ⤴️
  • “CK Group. Their portfolio of UK companies also includes Northumbrian Water and UK Power Networks, which delivers electricity to London and the East and South East of England.” ⤴️
  • “Profits which over the years could have gone into building up to 1,000 new vehicles have instead been syphoned off to keep investors satisfied.” ⤴️
  • “Porterbrook is 30% owned by AIMCO, a Canadian pension fund; 30% by Allianz, a German insurance firm; 30% by asset management firms in Israel and the UK; and 10% by EDF which is owned by the French state.” ⤴️
  • “The effect of the ROSCO monopoly, combined with a leasing model which discourages the companies from investing in their assets, means that the supply line of new rolling stock is choked and the average age of the existing stock has increased” ⤴️
  • “any shortfall between their revenue and their costs has to be met out of the public purse. This means we’re subsidising the rental cost of the rolling stock” ⤴️
  • “Their complex financial arrangements are also very hard to untangle; which is possibly why Labour have not given the same commitment to bring ROSCOs in house that they have for the train operating companies.” ⤴️