Island Line is back under public ownership as South Western Railway (SWR) becomes the first railway operator to transfer back into Government control under new legislation, ending almost 30 years of fragmentation and waste under privatisation.
The change brought about by the Public Ownership Act means that operators will now have to meet rigorous, bespoke performance standards on things like punctuality, cancellation and passenger experience, so that a world-class public service can be built under ‘Great British Railways’.
Public ownership moves away from 14 siloed train operators, each with their own staff, incentives and competing commercial motivations. Great British Railways will enable operations to run more seamlessly, bringing accountability and reliability back into the railways and in turn helping to reduce delays and cancellations.
All passenger services operating under contracts with the Department will return to public ownership by the end of 2027 and will eventually be integrated into Great British Railways.
Heidi Alexandra, Secretary of State for Transport, has said:
“Today is a watershed moment in our work to return the railways to the service of passengers. Trains from Waterloo to Weymouth, Bournemouth and Exeter, will be run by the public, for the public.
“But 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. That’s why operators will have to meet rigorous performance standards and earn the right to be called Great British Railways.
“We have a generational opportunity to restore national pride in our railways and I will not waste it.”
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It has been revealed today that South Western Railway also has a new Managing Director, Lawrence Bowman – formerly of Network Rail.
Lawrence says:
“I’m excited to join and lead the excellent team at South Western Railway, who come to work every day to deliver the best possible service for our customers, and moving into public ownership will make it easier for them to do so.
“My immediate priority is to work with colleagues to develop a plan for SWR, 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 Great British Railways as a truly integrated industry-leading operation that delivers an excellent service to its passengers and the local communities we serve.”
Anyone who believes public ownership or state control will improve anything is frankly deluded. history has told us one thing about all things controlled at a nationalised level, they employ twice as many people to do the same work, they are the least productive and a union dispute in newcastle brings all the staff out on the island.
One way to create more jobs.
Let’s face it the Government are the countries
largest employer.
They over employ NHS Shirkers and
over employ Council shirkers etc etc
All on fat salaries and fat pensions
All paid for by US tax payers!
Lol
I hope ou remember your words about shirkers when you have a stroke or heart attack. I hardly think you could describe a nurses pay or pension as fat. I think you betray the amazing work done by so many people throughout the NHS.
I wouldn’t say the period of private operation was exactly a highlight in the history of rail transport. It was all about profits for shareholders and fat cats. Even the Beeching cuts were driven by the fact that Beeching had a huge peronal financial interest in road haulage
It should never have left public hands, now it’s time
to buy the ferry companies, compulsory purchases if
necessary.
Let’s take back control and make Britain great again.
Lol
I do wish you would make your mind up.
public ownership – good or bad?
Handed back into government control until 2027, then to public ownership. Won’t be worth a shit by then like anything else they have anything to do with will it?
Going back to the days of British rail, when the trains were filthy and the stations hadn’t seen a paint brush for decades. Certainly wont bring cheaper fares.
British Rail did sell nice toasted bacon sandwiches in the
Buffet cars though.
Bring back the tea trolley on the trains.