GWR will be renationalised in December

The Department for Transport has revealed that it will set up a new publicly-owned railway operating company before Great British Railways has taken over.

The new company will be a subsidiary of DfT Operator Limited, which has been taking control of operators as they are renationalised.

The next will be Govia Thameslink Railway on 31 May, followed by Chiltern Railways on 20 September and Great Western Railway on 13 December, leaving just Avanti West Coast, Cross Country and East Midlands Railway in the private sector until next year.

It is known that CrossCountry will return to public control on 17 October 2027, but the termination dates for the other two have yet to be announced.

DfT Operator Limited had been the DfT’s Operator of Last Resort until Labour was elected in 2024, and its purpose had been to run failed franchises until they could be relet.

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 changed its status to an effective ‘Operator of First Resort’, making public ownership the default option, and the first of the former franchises to be renationalised by Labour was South Western Railway on 25 May last year, although several others had been returned to public hands under the previous Conservative administration, which had intended the change of status to be a temporary measure. The first of these had been LNER, which had been launched in 2018 to replace the failed Virgin Trains East Coast franchise.

The new subsidiary of DfT Operator will presumably hand over to Great British Railways when that organisation is ready to start, which should be during 2027.

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