The British government ran out of patience with Railtrack yesterday, refusing to pump any more money into the struggling rail network operator and asking the High Court to put the firm into administration.
The move marks the end of Britain's unhappy experiment with private ownership of the country's tracks and stations and is a political embarrassment to successive governments which argued for less state involvement in public services.
Calling in administrators would allow Railtrack, groaning under more than £3.3 billion (€5.5 billion) of debt, to continue operating while politicians look for ways of finding enough money to drag the decrepit railways into the modern age.
"Later today, the Secretary of State for Transport, Stephen Byers, will petition the High Court to place Railtrack Plc in Railway Administration," a brief government statement said.
"This follows his decision on Friday to refuse a request from the company for additional funding."
That refusal leaves Railtrack's management with nowhere to go.
It has already received billions of pounds in state aid and was counting on billions more, though there have been signs patience has worn thin.
The UK's rail regulator told Railtrack bosses earlier this year to "put away the begging bowl".
Created in 1996 when the then Conservative government broke up and sold off Britain's ageing railways, Railtrack's inability to deliver a reliable service has made it a butt of comedians' jokes and passengers' anger. Public confidence has been eroded by a series of fatal train crashes and near-misses.
Railtrack owns the national railway network and is responsible for all investment in it. The train operating companies pay Railtrack for the use of tracks, stations and signals.
Earlier, one source said that the present Labour government planned to turn Railtrack into a not-for-profit trust, meaning any money made would be funnelled back into the railways.
Trains will run as normal today and there should be no impact on jobs for the 11,000 staff, although Railtrack's top management looks unlikely to stay put.
A report into the 1999 train crash at Paddington, London, which killed 31 people, accused Railtrack of institutional paralysis and complacency.
Railtrack shares will be suspended today and the government is expected to buy them back from investors.
