South Western Railway and its services have today (25th May 2026) been transferred into public control.
Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander announcing Great British Railways at South West Railways – Image, Department for Transport
It will fall under a new brand eventually, as the UK Government spins up Great British Railways. This will be the name of the new nationally owned railway, as well as a proposed reset of the rail network.
Until today, the South Western Railway (routes out of London Waterloo) was operated in the past by Stagecoach and most recently, First MTR South West.
Starting with SWR, each operator will have to meet rigorous, bespoke performance standards on things like punctuality, cancellation and passenger experience. According to the government, moving away from the franchiseed rail operator model will save up to £150 million a year in fees.
A new nationally owned body – Great British Railways – will manage track and train, moving away from the current model of 14 siloed train operators, each with their own staff, incentives and competing commercial motivations.
This follows the passing of the Public Ownership Act in November, one of the first major pieces of legislation to be delivered under the current government.
All passenger services operating under contracts with the department will return to public ownership by the end of 2027 and will eventually be integrated into Great British Railways. Services are being transferred after contracts reach the end of their minimum term, or where they can be ended early, ensuring taxpayers pay no additional costs for breaking contracts.
In Quotes
Secretary of State for Transport, Heidi Alexander, said:
Today is a watershed moment in our work to return the railways to the service of passengers. Trains from Waterloo to Weymouth, Bournemouth and Exeter will be run by the public, for the public.
But I know that most users of the railway don’t spend much time thinking about who runs the trains – they just want them to work. That’s why operators will have to meet rigorous performance standards and earn the right to be called Great British Railways.
We have a generational opportunity to restore national pride in our railways and I will not waste it.
Lawrence Bowman, Managing Director of South Western Railway, said:
I’m excited to join and lead the excellent team at South Western Railway, who come to work every day to deliver the best possible service for our customers and moving into public ownership will make it easier for them to do so.
My immediate priority is to work with colleagues to develop a plan for SWR, that will make the most of the new, simpler industry processes to deliver improvements in reliability and an increase in capacity.
Over the coming years, I will focus on ensuring SWR moves into Great British Railways as a truly integrated industry-leading operation that delivers an excellent service to its passengers and the local communities we serve.
Ben Plowden, Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport, said:
Today marks a turning point for Britain’s railways and it’s good to see the government’s plans for reforming the railways continuing at pace.
The creation of Great British Railways presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change how the rail system works – structurally, financially and operationally – and put passengers and freight operators first.
Joining South West Railway this year.
With franchises moving back into public ownership, the next operator to move back into public ownership under the new legislation will be c2c, which operates the Essex Thameside c2c (operating trains from London Fenchurch Street along the Essex Thameside to Southend and Shoeburyness) by Trenitalia on 20 July 2025.
Greater Anglia (which operates trains out of London Liverpool Street, with express services to Norwich and Stansted Airport, Commuter services to Cambridge, Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and regional services from Ipswich and Norwich, as well as coastal lines to Clacton, Southend, Harwich, Felixstowe, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth) operated by Transport Group UK and Mitsui & Co, Ltd will have their services transferred on 12th October 2025.
They will join LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express, Caledonian Sleeper, Scotrail, Transport for Wales (trains) and Southeastern as government-operated railways (either by the UK Government or by the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales).
So what happened with the first train?
In a note of irony and the work ahead, the first train was… partially replaced with a bus substitution service.
We can hope things get better from here, least of all the ticket pricing that has been the bane of travellers over the past few years…
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