As of yesterday, the British South Western Railway (SWR), which serves more than 200 stations in southern England, is once again in government hands. It is, in fact, the first train company to be nationalized under Labour.
The Starmer government called the renationalization of British Rail, which was privatized in 1990, a “new era for the railways.” However, it does not immediately seem to benefit the average rail passenger. For example, Transport Minister Heidi Alexander cannot promise that train tickets will become cheaper while the very first service of the renationalized SWR this weekend took place … with a substitute bus due to track works.
Great British Railways
It could have been a feat of surrealism à la Monty Python, but it was not. At 05:36 yesterday, the renationalized SWR’s first ever service was due to take place from Woking to Surbiton, a suburban neighborhood in South West London. Only the ongoing journey to London Waterloo took place on a substitute bus because of track work.
The British government wants to renationalize almost all passenger rail transport in England by 2027 at the latest. That move is part of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, a broader reform of Britain’s railroad system passed by the government last year that will bring all passenger services under Great British Railways (GBR), a new public body that will coordinate both infrastructure and operations.
South Western Railway (SWR), one of the UK’s busiest rail operators with more than 150 million passengers a year, is now the first railroad company to be nationalized under that new Act. Operation is now managed by DfT Operator Ltd, a state-owned company that also previously operated LNER, Northern, Southeastern, and TransPennine Express, all regional franchises that the previous government nationalized due to performance or financial problems.
Not immediately lower ticket prices
But with yesterday’s bad relaunch, it looks like hopes for improvements in reliability and service have been dashed immediately. More to the point, although there will be little change for passengers in the short term—tickets, schedules, and season tickets will remain valid—the government has already indicated that lower fares cannot be guaranteed. “I would like to promise lower fares,” Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said, “but the daily running of the trains is already heavily subsidized with 2 billion pounds by the taxpayer.”
In turn, the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union called the nationalization of SWR “a major step forward and a clear rejection of the failed privatization model.” However, the union did raise concerns about outsourcing personnel for security and cleaning, for example, to private companies.
But the union is also concerned about another inconvenience: due to delivery delays, only five of a fleet of 90 new Arterio trains built by Alstom for SWR, representing an investment of 1 billion pounds, are currently available.
Major realignment
Two more railroad companies, C2C and Greater Anglia, will be renationalized later this year, in July and October, respectively. Seven more companies will be nationalized again before 2027 as their contracts expire—or sooner if their performance is judged unacceptable. They are West Midlands Trains, East Midlands Railway, Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Chiltern Railways, Govia Thameslink Railway, and Great Western.
Rail services in Wales were nationalized in 2021. Scotland took trains into public ownership in 2022.
GBR will manage rail tracks across England, Wales, and Scotland and operate most passenger train companies in England. However, GBR will not officially exist until parliament votes on it. That is expected to happen in the fall, but it will be some time before it is operational. Until then, the DfT will be in charge.
According to the BBC, several ministers hope to find ways to reduce the cost of train travel, but it would be impossible to make any promises before GBR is formally incorporated and other services are nationalized again.
Other voices in the UK are calling for more competition, even within the nationalized framework, by using Open Access Train Operators who compete on the same line with the government operator.
