A rail firm that runs services in Norfolk will become the third to be re-nationalised this weekend - but a government minister has said she cannot promise the move will lead to cheaper tickets.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander was in Norwich to mark the re-nationalisation of Greater Anglia as part of the government's move to take formerly private companies into public ownership.
The change, which comes into effect from Sunday, comes as Labour creates Great British Railways – an upcoming public sector body which will oversee Britain’s rail infrastructure and train operation.
Next to a train marked with a ‘Great British Railways – coming soon’ sticker, Ms Alexander said the changes would help simplify the "baffling array" of fares across the UK's train network.
She said nationalisation would mean operators could have a "laser focus" on passengers, rather than making money for shareholders.
But Ms Alexander said she was not able to guarantee fares would fall.
She said: "I cannot make a promise that we can bring them down in the short term, because we have to run a financially sustainable railway.
"But I can promise we are going to move heaven and earth to ensure people get value for money.
"At the moment we spend over £10bn per year of taxpayers’ money on investing and maintaining the infrastructure, the tracks, the signalling on the railways.
“There’s a gap of about £2bn as well each year between the money that comes in through fare revenue and the day to day running costs of the trains.
“I need to get the balance right between the contribution that farepayers are making and what [contribution] the taxpayer is making."
Martin Beable, managing director at Greater Anglia said moving into public ownership was an "exciting opportunity".
There have long been calls for the government to commit more money to improve rail infrastructure in the region.
Improvements at Ely North - which would cost at least £500m - are particularly important as the Cambridgeshire junction links five lines connecting Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge, Peterborough and King’s Lynn.
The government did not announce any money for that in the spending review.
Questioned about that, Ms Alexander said she was aware of the "strong argument" for capacity improvement at Ely to boost freight and passenger trips.
She said: "At the spending review we were not able to allocate money for the next four years, but that doesn't mean I don't think it's a good scheme."
She said the project remained "in our pipeline" and would come in for consideration at the next spending review.
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