What do you mean now? DB already hold three passenger and one freight franchise in Britain.
DB have had an interest in UK passenger operators for a few years now, firstly with the acquisition of Laing Rail in 2008 (Chiltern plus their share of LOROL and W&SMR) and more recently with the acquisition of the European wide operation of Arriva (including their UK operations XC & ATW). Then there's the Tyne & Wear Metro contract too.
All these UK operations now come under the Arriva UK banner....
Cross Country Trains
Arriva Trains Wales
Chiltern Railways
half share in LOROL, provider of the London Overground service on behalf of TfL
operation of the Tyne & Wear Metro, on behalf of Nexus.
Incidentally, there is no such thing as a Freight franchise.
UK freight operating companies (FOC's) are open access operators. There are no franchises to be let.
Back to ownership of DB.
The subtlety may be lost on some people, but I think it's worth re-emphasising that DB is not a "state run" railway in the sense that is once was.
DB is a "private" company, that happens to be owned 100% by the German state.
Some may think that's just semantics, but there's a subtle but important difference in that.
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