Today (4th December 2024), the transport secretary revealed that South Western Railway’s services will be the first to come under public control following one of the government first major pieces of legislation, the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, received Royal Assent last month.
The transition to a publicly owned railway will improve reliability and support the government’s priority of accelerating economic growth by encouraging more people to use train services.
This should also reduce the amount of unacceptable delays, cancellations, and waste, far too common under decades of failing franchise contracts. By ensuring all funds are spent on services rather than price shareholders, transferring the rails into public ownership will save up to £150 million at no additional cost to the taxpayer.
Today’s announcement will see services across a wide network of southern England ad East Anglia to come back into public control by autumn 2025, which delivers on the Labour manifesto comment to bring contracts with existing operators into public ownership as they expire without costing taxpayers a penny in compensation.
This comes part of a government initiative to fix the foundations and deliver change with reform and investment to deliver growth and rebuild Britain. By bringing train operating companies back into public ownership after 30 years of privatisation, the government aims to undo decades of delays, fragmentation, and failure.
Transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: “For too long, the British public has had to put up with rail services that simply don’t work. A complex system of private train operators as too often failed its users.
“Starting with journeys on South Western Railway, we’re switching tracks by bringing services back under public control to create a reliable rail network that puts customers first.
“Our broken railways are finally on the fast track to repairing and rebuilding a system that the British public can trust and be proud of again.”
Railway Industry Association (RIA) chief executive, Darren Caplan, said: “Today’s announcement is an important milestone on the journey to a restructured railway. The UK supply chain will work with and support the government’s plans to deliver improved rail performance and reliably, as we together develop world-class rail, both track and train.”
“There is now a real opportunity to provide more certainty and visibility over work plans, which will help a reformed railway be a catalyst for boosting growth and connectivity across the nations and regions of the UK, with better services for rail customers — passengers and freight — and ultimately ensure enhanced value for money for the taxpayer.”
As part of the government’s wider strategy to reform the railways, Great British Railways (GBR) will bring track and train together under one directing mind, in order to focus on improving services for passengers and customers. Until this legislation is in place, Shadow GBR will make progress on ensuring the sector works together better under a publicly owned railway.
The government has already made strides towards improving services for passengers, such as brining an end to long-running national and local industrials disputes, and solving overcrowding issues at Euston Station.
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