BRITISH passenger operator South Western Railway transferred to public ownership on May 25, the first to do so under the Labour government’s policy to return all privately-held franchise operators to the public sector.

Transfer took place following the expiry of SWR’s National Rail Contract (NRC) on May 25. SWR was previously run by a partnership of FirstGroup (70%) and MTR (30%) under the contract with the government. SWR operates regional and commuter services out of London Waterloo to Surrey, Berkshire and Hampshire, as well as long-distance services to Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset and Devon in the west of England.

The transition follows the passing of the Public Ownership Act in November 2024 at which point the Department for Transport (DfT) set out its timetable for the transfer of the 10 former franchise contracts still run by the private sector.

c2c is set to follow in July, and Greater Anglia in October, with all remaining contracts entering public hands by the end of 2027. Four contracts in England are already in public control after they experienced poor performance. The Welsh government oversees Transport for Wales services and the Scottish government is responsible for ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper. Rail operations in Northern Ireland have remained in the public sector.

DfT says legislation to formally establish Great British Railways (GBR), which will reunite passenger operations with infrastructure management, will be introduced during the current session of Parliament. No clarification was provided on the precise timescale for this, however.

SWR has yet to be branded as GBR and is run by DfT Operator, the current Operator of Last Resort, which runs the four contracts already in public ownership. Transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, says that operators “will have to earn the right to be called GBR” by meeting “rigorous, bespoke performance standards” in areas such as train punctuality, the number of cancelled services and passenger experience.

The government argues that bringing infrastructure and operations back together under GBR will result in a more seamless network, improving accountability and reliability. “This will get more people using our trains to travel to work, education and for leisure - boosting both the national and regional economies as part of the government’s Plan for Change,” DfT says.

A special “coming soon” logo was revealed on the first SWR train to operate on May 25 to emphasise that the rail sector is returning to public ownership. This logo will also appear on digital screens at London Waterloo and other stations across the SWR network.

“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,” Alexander says. “That’s why operators will have to meet rigorous performance standards and earn the right to be called GBR.”

SWR managing director, Lawrence Bowman, revealed that his immediate priority is to work with colleagues to develop a plan “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 GBR as a truly integrated industry-leading operation that delivers an excellent service to its passengers and the local communities we serve,” he says.