'Cultural reset' as the first renationalised train sets off

Ministers have hailed a "new dawn" for Britain's railways as the first train services renationalised under the Labour government started operating yesterday.

- Gwyn Topham

The 06.14 from London Waterloo to Shepperton was the first rebranded train out on Sunday, its carriages adorned with a union jack and the logo "Great British Railways: coming soon" as part of a publicly owned South Western Railway (SWR).

However, the very first renationalised SWR service involved a rail replacement bus: the 05.36 from Woking to Waterloo had to terminate at Surbiton because of bank holiday weekend engineering works.

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, who travelled on the first renationalised departure from Waterloo, said there would be a "cultural reset" for the railway. She said legislation was expected to overhaul the industry and integrate track and train operations as Great British Railways (GBR) rather than under Network Rail and separate train firms.

SWR was the first planned nationalisation under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which was passed soon after the general election.