South Western Railway to be renationalised by Labour

South Western Railway will be the first rail operator renationalised by the Labour government after it passed a law last week.

Labour has pledged to renationalise rail services as operator franchises come to an end, and South Western's contract finishes in May 2025.

Edit: More firms added to the list: South Western Railways will be renationalised in May 2025, C2C in July 2025, and Greater Anglia in autumn 2025, the transport department has confirmed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqlnrgjr79o

Although the Elizabeth Line is being farmed out to the Tokyo Metro (currently run by the Hong Kong MTA interestingly).

Metra Electric Rider said:

Although the Elizabeth Line is being farmed out to the Tokyo Metro (currently run by the Hong Kong MTA interestingly).

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I am not too well up on the London area these days, I need to get back to my roots for a refresh!

London Transport was one large organisation in public ownership, which ran the bus and Underground networks. There was some political shenanigans I think at some point where the GLC, Greater London Council, was broken up by the Conservative government, and TfL Transport for London replaced London Transport. TfL run the Elizabeth Line and are separate from the National rail operators, which are the ones being renationalised.

I wonder if the Elizabeth Line will have staff pushing commuters onto the trains, like in Japan?

caravanman said:

South Western Railway will be the first rail operator renationalised by the Labour government after it passed a law last week.

Labour has pledged to renationalise rail services as operator franchises come to an end, and South Western's contract finishes in May 2025.

Edit: More firms added to the list: South Western Railways will be renationalised in May 2025, C2C in July 2025, and Greater Anglia in autumn 2025, the transport department has confirmed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqlnrgjr79o

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Of course there are already several rail operations run by the government as Operator of Last Resort, such as LNER. The difference here is the government taking over franchises as they come up for renewal, rather than waiting for them to fail.

Is this considered a positive move by those living in Britain? I have fond memories of British Rail from my trips in 1988 and 1990. I traveled all over Britain by rail pass in 1988 and encountered no issues. I am sure a train was occasionally 15 or 20 minutes late, but there were no cancellations or not honoring reservations.

That 1988 trip was an experience. I studied in London for 6 weeks. I was part of a student group. We all bought month-long tube passes. I used mine to railfan around London. On the first day, my group was in England, we were given free time to recover from jet lag, etc. I headed off to get timetables at Victoria Station. I approached the information desk and announced that I wanted a system-wide timetable. I was expecting a booklet like Amtrak's national timetable. The man stated that that would be three pounds fifty. I did the math and realized I was being asked to pay the equivalent of 7 dollars in US money. I gave him three pounds fifty. He handed me a book that was the size of an encyclopedia. Then he handed me the supplements. I needed a plastic bag to haul all of this back to where I was staying.

I used this timetable to carefully plan an 8-day rail pass covering as much track as was humanely possible. Then, I headed down to the British Rail Travel Center at Leister Square.

I plopped my carefully constructed itinerary on the counter and explained that I wanted reservations for window seats facing forward on all trains requiring reservations. I had marked these on the itinerary. He looked over my entire itinerary and suggested ensuring I rode more scenic lines. He spent 45 minutes helping me. I walked away thinking Amtrak needed to come to Britain to learn how to operate a railroad.

The trains themselves were exotic and amazing. I marveled at the slam door stock on my first train ride out of Waterloo. I could not believe I could ride with the window open and have an "open Dutch door" experience without fear of being scolded by the conductor. The intercity 125s were comfortable and fast. There was a book-a-bed-ahead service in every main station where it was possible to book a Bed & Breakfast. These stays were memorable because I stayed in different types of homes and got to chit-chat with the locals.