Great Western (and other TOCs) - nationalisation

[northernbelle]

To happen in 2026, alongside GTR, Chiltern and West Midlands - Facebook post this morning from Rail Minister Heidi Alexander:

At Labour Party Conference, I’m announcing the 4 train operating companies to be brought into public ownership next year: Great Western, GTR (including Thameslink and Southern), Chiltern and West Midlands.

This will mean that by the middle of next year over half of all railway journeys will be done on publicly operated railways.

We are returning the railways to the service of passengers, putting an end to the delays, cancellations and waste that have frustrated the travelling public for too long.

My dad was an electrical apprentice on our railway in Swindon, making sure things worked properly.

It seems fitting that 60 years later, I will also be rewiring the railways as we rebuild a transport system fit for the future.

It will take time, but we will sweep away decades of fragmentation and pointless bureaucracy, and deliver a Great British Railway people can be proud of and rely on.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

It seems Heidi Alexander will announce at the Labour party conference next week the dates for the next TOC transfers to DOHL operation.
See 0928 in this blog:

Labour conference chance to show alternative to ‘toxic divide and decline’ offered by Reform, says Starmer – as it happened

Labour party conference ‘really big opportunity to make our case to the country’, says PM

www.theguardian.com

Most rail journeys in Great Britain will be under public ownership by the middle of next year, the transport secretary is expected to announce.
Speaking at the Labour party’s annual party conference, Heidi Alexander will reveal the next four services to be brought into public ownership.

WMT will transfer from Transport UK on 1 Feb 2026 (already announced)
GTR will transfer from Govia (Go-Ahead/Keolis) on 31 May 2026
Chiltern and GWR will transfer (from Arriva and FirstGroup respectively) later in 2026 (specific dates not announced).

That will just leave Avanti, Cross-Country and EMR of the DfT-contracted TOCs in the private sector until 2027.
Merseyrail and TfL-controlled TOCs London Overground and Elizabeth Line remain in the private sector for now (current concessions expire 2026 (LO), 2028 (Merseyrail) and 2032 (EL).

 

[physics34]

Yep as a GTR employee we received an email from our management this morning confirming this.

 

[fgwrich]

It is still a little annoying to see the perpetual XC can kicked down that road again. GWR, and to some extent Chiltern, are two of the better TOCs at the moment. The less said about XC the better.

 

[paulmch]

It is still a little annoying to see the perpetual XC can kicked down that road again. GWR, and to some extent Chiltern, are two of the better TOCs at the moment. The less said about XC the better.

Unfortunately 2027 is the earliest that XC can be taken in house without Arriva receiving some sort of compensation. I suspect the DfT are happy to put off having to deal with the XC mess directly for as long as possible!

 

[KNN]

It is still a little annoying to see the perpetual XC can kicked down that road again. GWR, and to some extent Chiltern, are two of the better TOCs at the moment. The less said about XC the better.

It isn't a punishment this time, though. And a few months either way aren't going to fix the problems at XC, might as well leave them where they are for now.

 

[Snow1964]

DfT sneeked out a post dated yesterday

• schedule set out for West Midlands Trains, Govia Thameslink Railway, Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railways to come under public control
• by the middle of next year, more than half of all rail journeys in Great Britain will be under public ownership
• the government is delivering on its commitment to bring passenger services under public control and put passengers back at the heart of the railway

The next 3 train operating companies whose services will transfer into public ownership, as part of the government’s landmark overhaul of the railways, have been confirmed.

After Greater Anglia’s services transfer on 12 October 2025, West Midlands Trains services will then follow on 1 February 2026, before Govia Thameslink Railway’s services on 31 May 2026, marking another significant step in the government’s plans to bring services into public ownership.

This means by the middle of next year, 8 in 10 passenger rail journeys that the department is responsible for will be owned by the public, for the public.

Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railways services are then expected to follow, with the Secretary of State of Transport due to make final decisions on when exactly this will happen in due course.

All passenger services operating under contracts with the department are expected to return to public ownership by the end of 2027 and will eventually be integrated into Great British Railways. Services are being transferred after contracts reach the end of their minimum term, ensuring taxpayers pay no additional costs for breaking contracts early.

Operators must meet rigorous, bespoke standards to earn the right to be called Great British Railways, so we can rebuild a world-class public service.

This confirmation builds on the government’s delivery of the biggest reset of the railways in a generation, which will help to deliver better and more reliable services for passengers.

Legislation to establish Great British Railways, the new public company which will take responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the railways, will be introduced this Parliamentary session.

Publicly owned operating companies Southeastern and LNER are delivering some of the lowest cancellation rates nationally and South Western Railway has tripled the number of new trains in service in the four months since it came under public ownership, offering more comfortable journeys.

Next train services to return to public ownership revealed as government delivers railways reset

West Midlands Trains, Govia Thameslink Railway, Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railways set to integrate into Great British Railways.

www.gov.uk

 

[Andyh82]

putting an end to the delays and cancellations that have frustrated the travelling public for too long.

Who knew all the delays and cancellations were all caused by the private sector!

 

[450.emu]

Rail Minister Heidi Alexander: "It seems fitting that 60 years later, I will also be rewiring the railways..."

She's playing with fire making wild promises about electrification projects

Let's see what happens next, there's not even a livery yet, it just seems to be "coming soon" stickers which seems quite amateur

 

[dutchbedford]

Sept 2026 has seemed to be the most banded-around date internally, nothing firm though.

 

[jamieh27]

To happen in 2026, alongside GTR, Chiltern and West Midlands - Facebook post this morning from Rail Minister Heidi Alexander:

Just saw the news so all 14 operating companies by 2026 will be brought into public ownership uner Great British Railways.

 

[Class 170101]

Just saw the news so all 14 operating companies by 2026 will be brought into public ownership uner Great British Railways.

Nope. '8 in 10 journeys will be in the public sector' Cross Country and Avanti, at least, still to be given a firm end date.

 

[Keithheller]

So we got a transport minister whos dad worked on the railway and a London Mayor whos dad was a bus driver. Must have the same spin doctor and or script writers!

 

[Cardiff123]

DfT sneeked out a post dated yesterday

Next train services to return to public ownership revealed as government delivers railways reset

West Midlands Trains, Govia Thameslink Railway, Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railways set to integrate into Great British Railways.

www.gov.uk

So "we're going to launch GBR but we're not going to let every operator call themselves GBR."
So private operators are going to still be running TOCs? And what will English operators be called that are not allowed to call themselves GBR?

 

[ollyexe2808]

So "we're going to launch GBR but we're not going to let every operator call themselves GBR."
So private operators are going to still be running TOCs? And what will English operators be called that are not allowed to call themselves GBR?

The operators will go into public hands but keep their TOC name (as in LNER, Northern etc). So the TOCs will no longer be private companies, but will keep their names. I think it is silly though to not have GBR as the main brand from Day One.

 

[swt_passenger]

So "we're going to launch GBR but we're not going to let every operator call themselves GBR."
So private operators are going to still be running TOCs? And what will English operators be called that are not allowed to call themselves GBR?

Well there’s LNER, SWR, Northern, to give three nationalised examples operated by ‘DfT Operator Ltd’, as explained in a number of similar threads over the last few months…

 

[Cardiff123]

Well there’s LNER, SWR, Northern, to give three nationalised examples operated by ‘DfT Operator Ltd’, as explained in a number of similar threads over the last few months…

Yes but that's because GBR doesn't exist as a legal entity yet. What the press release from the DfT and Heidi Alexander is saying is that they won't be calling every operator GBR if they are poorly performing.
So what happens if an operator performs well and so is rebanded as GBR, but then performs poorly? It's loses the GBR brand and is then called something else?
This is leaving out the fact the TfW and ScotRail won't be re-branded as GBR anyway.
When you drill down it all looks like a bit of a poorly thought out mess.

 

[swt_passenger]

Yes but that's because GBR doesn't exist as a legal entity yet. What the press release from the DfT and Heidi Alexander is saying is that they won't be calling every operator GBR if they are poorly performing.

We already knew about that from the earlier ‘nationalisations’ though. Your question has been asked before, and there was no clear answer to whether a GBR branded TOC could go the other way subsequently.

I’m quite looking forwarded to DFT getting XC staff to work normally at weekends for instance.

 

[Hadders]

So we’ve got:
Greater Anglia 12th October
West Midlands Trains 1st February
GTR 31st May

Then:
GWR
Chiltern
Both to follow at a date to be determined by the Secretary of State (presumably later 2026)

Which by my reckoning leaves:
Avanti
CrossCountry
EMR
to transfer in 2027

 

[satisnek]

Being a Worcestershire rail user for more than 35 years and anti-privatisation for almost as long, I should be over the moon about this. But I have absolutely zero confidence in today's politicians.

 

[John R]

It isn't a punishment this time, though. And a few months either way aren't going to fix the problems at XC, might as well leave them where they are for now.

Though where fixes might take a bit longer I would have thought DfT would be keen to set the ball in motion now, so improvements conveniently come very soon after nationalisation.

 

[JonathanH]

Though where fixes might take a bit longer I would have thought DfT would be keen to set the ball in motion now, so improvements conveniently come very soon after nationalisation.

There is no evidence from any of the nationalisation phasing yet to suggest that improvements are any more likely before or after nationalisation happens.

 

[positron]

So we’ve got:
Greater Anglia 12th October
West Midlands Trains 1st February
GTR 31st May

Then:
GWR
Chiltern
Both to follow at a date to be determined by the Secretary of State (presumably later 2026)

Which by my reckoning leaves:
Avanti
CrossCountry
EMR
to transfer in 2027

EMR core contract expires October 2026, Avantis September 2026 and Cross country October 2027! But their (XC and Avanti tbf) service provision is so shockingly bad they should be able to cancel cross country earlier imo.

The others core contracts have all already expired so it's just a matter of staggering their transfer.

 

[JonathanH]

But their service provision is so shockingly bad they should be able to cancel cross country earlier imo.

If they are delivering services to the specification laid down by and agreed with the DfT, there isn't really grounds to cancel a contract.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

If they are delivering services to the specification laid down by and agreed with the DfT, there isn't really grounds to cancel a contract.

I will be surprised if the DfT specification provides for such an abysmal level of service delivery as CrossCountry achieve day to day, particularly at weekends. Of course, kicking Arriva out early just hastens the problem landing firmly on DfTs plate which is presumably why they haven’t.

 

[John R]

There is no evidence from any of the nationalisation phasing yet to suggest that improvements are any more likely before or after nationalisation happens.

I’m not suggesting that. They are all happening as soon as the contracts practically allow.

And clearly the first few have come too quickly after the election for any longer term improvements to be initiated in advance.

 

[positron]

Cross country ultimately need more rolling stock and that's not going to materialise so yeah I imagine it's in their interest to delay the transfer as long as possible. Even bent dft and maybe having some more flexibility with rolling stock doesn't help, because there's not really any suitable cascades even.

Wonder if it will help or hinder GWRs plans for their battery tech. That's something they'll need sooner rather than later to get 150s replaced too. Again there's not much diesel stock that isn't also life expired.

 

[Clarence Yard]

All they are doing at this moment is removing the private sector management element. They are still working to the existing DfT business plan for each TOC, irrespective of ownership.

Change of ownership doesn’t mean change of plan.

 

[Sorcerer]

I expect Merseyrail, London Overground and Elizabeth Line will either remain as concessions or will be brought under control by local bodies rather than the Department for Transport. Considering that the Great British Railways brand will only be applied to operations that the government deems a good enough standard, I am not too surprised they'd prefer to bring Avanti and CrossCountry back in house later down the line. I didn't quite realise just how little TOCs remained privatised though I must admit.

 

[positron]

All they are doing at this moment is removing the private sector management element. They are still working to the existing DfT business plan for each TOC, irrespective of ownership.

Change of ownership doesn’t mean change of plan.

That's not quite the whole truth though, both south western and now south eastern have had their management structure changed too so that services and infrastructure are managed by a single entity. That's more than just switching private to public.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Sep 2025 ==

Cross country they can't actually do until at the earliest October 2027. So they'll be the last ones to transfer.