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.

The companies run the services on behalf of Transport for London (TfL), with MTR’s contract expiring in 2025 and Arriva’s in 2026.

Aslef and RMT have written a joint letter to London Mayor Sadiq Khan calling for the services to be taken into public ownership.

This would bring the operations into line with the Labour government’s declared intention of taking the rail system into public ownership, they argued.

The letter, signed by RMT general secretary Mick Lynch and Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan, warned inefficiencies and costs under privatisation had “led to fragmented and expensive services for passengers.”

“Privatisation has been a costly inefficient failure,” they said.

The union leaders highlighted what they believe would be the financial and service-related benefits of public ownership.

“There will be significant savings to government,” their letter said. 

“Public ownership represents an opportunity to improve passenger rail services by removing the commercially driven focus on individual operators’ profit.”

They called on Mr Khan to “seize the moment” and said: “The time to do this is now.”

TfL is currently considering a short-list of four bidders for the £3 billion Elizabeth Line contract when it expires in 2025. These include MTR and Arriva. 

Mr Khan’s office was invited to comment.