THE extent of privatised rail operators’ rip-off from taxpayers has been exposed as the public step in yet again to bail out another failed profiteer.

As Govia-run London and South Eastern Railway is taken back into public ownership this weekend, a new report by rail union RMT reveals that in the pandemic year alone, private operators stood to hand out more than £1.1 billion in shareholder dividends — all from the pockets of taxpayers and rail users.

The government ruled that during the pandemic the taxpayer would pay all costs of operating the railways.

The report, Private Profiteering On Great British Railways, states that a further £950 million in profits will be creamed off by the privateers from 2020 to 2027.

Added to that will be £260m in profits to the companies that lease trains, passenger carriages and freight trucks to operators.

Instead, the rail operators are implementing a redundancy programme which will cost thousands of jobs and bring even more chaos to services.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Private-sector train operation is a write-off and Southeastern should be followed by every single remaining franchise coming into public ownership.

“But instead the government is overseeing service cuts and funding a redundancy programme in a desperate attempt to make rail cheap enough to flog back to the same people who have failed time and time again.”

He said the “ludicrous situation” should be terminated, operations taken back into public ownership, and rail services expanded to cater for a “mass mode shift in transport.”

“Finish the job, cut out the spivs and stop the cuts,” Mr Lynch demanded.