The German government just agreed to purchase Britain’s biggest train and bus firm. The $2.44 billion deal will put 44,000 Arriva employees in multiple European countries under the control of Deutsche Bahn.

It is the loss of yet another British crown jewel—and a big one at that.

According to Arriva’s website, the company is one of Europe’s leading transport services, with bus and train operations in the UK, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Arriva also has bus networks in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain, and operates rail services in Poland.

Over 1 billion passengers each year ride Arriva’s extensive transport networks.

It is rude irony that Deutsche Bahn, the successor company to Deutsche Reichsbahn, which operated the trains that ran to the World War ii extermination camps, will now own British Rail, a company whose predecessors did so much to transport the war stores to those who opposed the Nazis.

What the Nazis were not able to accomplish through war, Germany is now accomplishing through more peaceful means.

British trade union leader Bob Crow warns that the German government is on its way to having a monopoly of Europe’s strategic transport networks. “This is a huge step in the wrong direction for rail workers and passengers and should sound a warning that we are heading towards a dangerous monopoly of rail and bus services across Europe,” he said.

The loss of British Rail is just the most recent loss in a string of pawned-off national treasures.

Britain’s largest airports and sea ports are foreign-owned—even the port of Dover is up for sale. Its utilities like NPower and Powergen were sold years ago to German companies. Scottish Power isn’t Scottish anymore—it is Spanish-owned. edf Energy is owned by the French.

Britain’s largest water utility, Thames Water, is foreign-owned. French companies operate other UK water utilities. Britain’s biggest telecommunication firms like o2 plc and Marconi have also been gobbled up.

The list of historic and strategic manufacturers that are now owned by overseas interests is too long to even attempt to begin. Jaguar, Land Rover, Rolls Royce and Mini are long gone too.

In 2007, the Queen’s royal rail coach became foreign-owned.

There is not much left that is truly British anymore. The country is owned by foreigners. Yes, Britain still has a few big banks, but they are mostly stuffed with debt—much of it bad. And if the pound were to devalue, what would those debts be worth?

For more information on where Britain’s train tracks are taking it, read “Selling Britain’s Corporate Crown Jewels.” And for the reason why the tracks are heading in the opposite direction for Germany, read “Germany’s Corporate Blitzkrieg.”