It also marks a rupture with the European policy agenda embedded in EU directives like the Fourth Rail Package. / The shift is the direct result of relentless campaigning by ITF-affiliated rail unions – the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) – who have fought tirelessly to expose the failures of privatisation. As the private sector model finally collapsed into timetable chaos, delays, cancellations and strikes, union lobbying, and public advocacy pushed a positive vision of renationalisation onto the political agenda, ensuring that workers and passengers – rather than shareholders – are at the heart of Britain’s railway future. The election of the Labour government in the UK put this vision on the legislative agenda. (....)