A private train operator servicing parts of southern England, including London, on Sunday became the first to be returned to public ownership under a government plan to renationalise Britain’s much-maligned railways.
All UK rail operators are due to be renationalised within the next two years in a key policy launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following his Labour Party’s return to government last July after 14 years in opposition.
“South Western Railway is now under public ownership. And this is just the start,” Starmer said on social media, naming the service kick-starting his government’s plan.
He vowed the renationalisation “will put passengers first”, with “better services, with simpler ticketing, on more comfortable trains”.
Train passengers in Britain suffer from frequent cancellations, in addition to high ticket prices and regular confusion over which services they can be used on.
The privatisation of rail operations took place in the mid-1990s under the Conservative prime minister of the time, John Major, but the rail network remained public, run by Network Rail.
