RAIL unions are demanding an end to private firms’ rip-off profiteering from London Underground’s Elizabeth Line and London Overground, by taking the services into public ownership.

Train drivers’ union Aslef and rail union RMT reported that Hong Kong-based operator MTR, which runs the Elizabeth Line, paid shareholder dividends of £7.6 million last year, equivalent to a 2.4 per cent cut in fares.

And Arriva, part of Germany’s state-owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn, creamed off dividends of £9.6m from London Overground, equivalent to a 4.4 per cent cut.