South Western Railways operates as a joint venture between the First Group and Mass Transit Railway, the Hong Kong train operator.
Christmas has come early for the rail unions as ministers announced that the South Western Railway will be the first train company nationalized under the Labour government.
One of the biggest commuter services in the United Kingdom, based in London Waterloo, will come into the public hands in May.
South Western Railways operates as a joint venture between the First Group and Mass Transit Railway, the Hong Kong train operator.
The new transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, wants to take a more cautious timeline to renationalize it than her predecessor, Louise Haigh, who resigned last week.
The SWR network, which connects London with Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, and Dorset, will be renationalized in May 2025.
SWR will be the next to come under the control of the Department for Transport’s operator of last resort, DOHL when its contract expires in May.
Two more commuter operations out of London will be subsequent, with Greater Anglia, which serves Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hertfordshire with London, following in the autumn, and Operator c2c, which connects Essex with the capital, is anticipated to be in public hands by July.
Many more private rail companies will transition in 10 years. The rail network of Scotland is already once again owned by the government.
The rail unions have long demanded this transition.
After the latest reports, officials were considering renationalizing British Steet due to tensions with the Chinese owners of the company.
A source from Whitehall familiar with the plans briefed that they were looking at several options but that it was the least desirable choice.
However, sources close to Jonathan Reynolds, the business sectary, later entirely ruled out the idea.
Eventually, all operators will nationalize under the clauses of the public ownership bill passed by Haigh, which became law last week.
However, Haigh was considering using break clauses in other contracts, which would have made the renationalization of Greater Anglia sooner.
Other train operators under public control had previously only contracts canceled after a clear operational or financial violation.
Alexander added that the British public has been tolerating a rail service that does not work, and a complicated network of private train companies has let its customers down.
They plan to change course by returning to public control, starting with South Western Railway journeys to establish a reliable train system that puts their passengers first.
He continues stating that the British people would now be confident that the damaged railways will soon be repaired and rebuilt into a system that the public can trust and be proud of again.
Since the Virgin East Coast franchise failed in 2018, DOHL, soon to be renamed as DfT Operator Limited, has operated LNER. The conservative government then took over Northern, Southeastern, and TransPennine.
All passenger train services run under the contracts with the DfT would nationalize within the next three years.
When government plans for an integrated railway are implemented, passenger trains are expected to operate under the Great British Railways (GBR) brand.
GBR will bring track and trains together under a single guiding vision as a part of the government’s broader plans to reform the railways.
An unnamed GBR team within the DfT is still working to establish the new structure due to the absence of legislation. The DfT stated that switching to publicly owned railways would increase economic growth and reliability.
South Western recently announced an operating profit of £12.2 million for the latest fiscal year thanks to the £140.9 million DfT subsidy.
It was one of the most profitable franchises making net payments to the government, but after the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated, daily commutes declined into the capital, and season ticket sales collapsed.
MTR’s contract to operate Elizabeth Line trains expires in May, and then it will be succeeded by a joint venture of Tokyo Metro and Go-Ahead.
