South Western Railway (2025)

South Western Railway

Overview
Main region(s)	Greater London South East England South West England
Parent company	DfT Operator
Reporting mark	SW
Predecessor	South Western Railway
Other
Website	www.southwesternrailway.com

South Western Railway is a future train operating company that will take over the services of the operator of the same name from FirstGroup and MTR Corporation on 25 May 2025.

History

In the lead up to the 2024 United Kingdom general election, the Labour Party of Keir Starmer committed itself to bring the passenger operations of the British rail network back under state ownership. ^{[1] [2]} Following its election in 2024, the government introduced the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 that received the royal assent in November 2024. ^{[3] [4]}

In December 2024, it was announced that the FirstGroup / MTR Corporation operated South Western Railway National Rail Contract would not be renewed when it expired, with DfT Operator to take over on 25 May 2025. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

References

1. Labour promises rail nationalisation within five years of coming to power The Guardian 25 April 2024
2. Labour pledges to renationalise most rail services within five years BBC News 26 April 2024
3. Rail nationalisation takes a step closer under Starmer’s first major public reform in Commons victory The Independent 4 September 2024
4. Government reveals first three operators to be renationalised after law change Railnews 4 December 2024
5. South Western Railway, c2c and Greater Anglia to be nationalised in 2025 City AM 4 December 2024
6. Operators to move in-house every three months Rail issue 1024 11 December 2024 page 14
7. South Western Railway to return to public ownership Rail Express issue 344 January 2025 page 11