Secretary of State for Transport (): Following my
statement in December last
year, I can confirm to the House that, on Sunday 25 May 2025,
South Western Railway's services will transfer into public
ownership.
South Western Railway's services are the first to transfer to
public ownership under the Passenger
Railways Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, a landmark
piece of legislation passed by Parliament in November. From
Sunday, operations will be run by a new public sector operator –
South Western Railway Limited. For now this will be a subsidiary
of the public corporation, DfT Operator Limited (DfTO), which
will eventually transfer into Great British Railways
(GBR), once
established.
C2C's services will be next to transfer into public ownership on
20 July 2025 and, as previously announced, I have issued an
expiry notice to Greater Anglia confirming that their contract
with the department will now expire on 12 October 2025. Greater
Anglia's services will transfer into public ownership on this
date.
Sunday marks a watershed moment in the government's plan to
return the railways to the service of passengers and reform our
broken railways, ending 30 years of fragmentation and delivers on
our manifesto commitment to bring passenger services back into
public control and put passengers firmly at the heart of the
railways.
Public ownership will ensure services are run in the interests of
passengers, not shareholders, and is a vital step in enabling the
government to bring track and train together. But public
ownership alone is not a silver bullet and will not fix the
structural problems hindering the railways currently. That will
take time.
Under this government's plan to unify track and train under one
organisation, GBR
will be the single ‘directing mind' for the railway, putting
passengers and customers first, rebuilding trust in the railway
and simplifying the industry.
In February, the government's consultation on the
Railways Bill outlined plans to establish GBR, which will consolidate the
14 different train operating companies, Network Rail and DfTO
into a single organisation. The Railways Bill will be laid in
this Parliamentary session and I expect GBR to be operational around 12
months after the bill receives Royal Assent
