| DfT Operator Limited | |
| Type: | Holding company |
| Founded: | 2018 |
| Location City: | London |
| Location Country: | England |
| Area Served: | United Kingdom |
| Industry: | Rail transport |
| Services: | Train operating company management |
| Revenue: | £2.2 billion |
| Revenue Year: | 2022 |
| Operating Income: | £20 million |
| Income Year: | 2022 |
| Net Income: | £22 million |
| Net Income Year: | 2022 |
| Num Employees: | 11 |
| Num Employees Year: | 2022 |
| Parent: | Department for Transport |
DfT Operator Limited, formerly DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL), is a holding company established by the Department for Transport in the United Kingdom to act as operator of last resort for rail franchises that are nationalised.
DfT OLR Holdings was established in 2018 by the Department for Transport to operate rail franchises should it become necessary to bring them into public ownership and operate as an operator of last resort in accordance with section 30 of the Railways Act 1993.[1] As at May 2023, the company has four active subsidiaries: London North Eastern Railway, Northern Trains, Southeastern and TransPennine Express. In May 2023 DfT OLR Holdings superseded FirstGroup as the largest operator of passenger services in the United Kingdom, generating 23% of passenger revenue and 26% of passenger miles.[2]
In December 2024, the Secretary of State for Transport announced that the company's name was changing to DfT Operator Limited. This coincided with the announcement that three more passenger train services were to be brought into public ownership in 2025.[3]
DOHL has a number of active and dormant subsidiaries.
On 24 June 2018, London North Eastern Railway took over the InterCity East Coast franchise from Virgin Trains East Coast after the latter ran into financial difficulty.[4] [5]
Train Fleet (2019) Limited was established in August 2019 to take ownership of 40 Class 365 units from Eversholt Rail Group. This arose from a complex financial arrangement, struck during the privatisation of British Rail by the British Railways Board when the trains were financed by financial institutions, that gave Eversholt the option to pass on their lease liabilities back to the government.[6] [7] In July 2021, all were sold back to Eversholt after termination of their leases with Govia Thameslink Railway was agreed.[8]
On 1 March 2020, Northern Trains took over the Northern franchise from Arriva Rail North after the latter became financially unviable.[9] [10]
On 17 October 2021, Southeastern took over the South Eastern franchise from Govia after financial irregularities were uncovered.[11] [12]
On 28 May 2023, TransPennine Express took over the operation of Transpennine services after FirstGroup's TransPennine Express contract was not renewed after repeated customer complaints of poor service and cancelled trains, as well as having the highest rate of cancellations of any train operating company in January and February 2023 with about a quarter of services being cancelled.[13] [14]