The c2c National Rail Contract owned by Trenitalia will end at 02.00 on Sunday, as the operator becomes the second to be renationalised by the Labour government.
The fact that cleaners at c2c will still be employed by the private sector because cleaning is outsourced has been criticised by the RMT.
The c2c franchise was originally known as LTS when it began on 26 May 1996 with National Express, and was rebranded c2c around the turn of the century. The meaning of ‘c2c’ was never clarified.