South Western Railway (SWR) has been renationalised, making it the first train company to transfer to public ownership under Labour.The first nationalised service, from Woking to Surbiton, departed on time at 05:36.The government called the move as a “new dawn for rail” but held back from promising lower fares, focusing more on plans to improve services and use profits to reinvest in infrastructure. Unions have expressed concerns over outsourcing staffing for security, cleaning and other areas to private companies, while the opposition Conservatives said Labour must “deliver on their promises”.SWR trains are now the responsibility of the DfT (Department for Transport) Operator and will be integrated into Great British Railways (GBR), which will oversee all railway infrastructure.GBR will not officially exist until MPs vote to create it, which looks set to be in the autumn.On a visit to a train depot in Bournemouth, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the nationalisation of SWR as a “real watershed moment”.Asked whether prices would go down for passengers, she told the BBC she could not promise lower fares, but assured passengers they would get “great value for money”.The first SWR service under public ownership was a rail replacement bus.Passengers travelling on the 05.36 service from Woking to London Waterloo had to change to a bus at Surbiton because of engineering workThe service features the new GBR livery. The words “Great British Railways” and “coming soon” are painted in white against a royal blue background decorated with part of a unio …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnSouth Western Railway (SWR) has been renationalised, making it the first train company to transfer to public ownership under Labour.The first nationalised service, from Woking to Surbiton, departed on time at 05:36.The government called the move as a “new dawn for rail” but held back from promising lower fares, focusing more on plans to improve services and use profits to reinvest in infrastructure. Unions have expressed concerns over outsourcing staffing for security, cleaning and other areas to private companies, while the opposition Conservatives said Labour must “deliver on their promises”.SWR trains are now the responsibility of the DfT (Department for Transport) Operator and will be integrated into Great British Railways (GBR), which will oversee all railway infrastructure.GBR will not officially exist until MPs vote to create it, which looks set to be in the autumn.On a visit to a train depot in Bournemouth, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander described the nationalisation of SWR as a “real watershed moment”.Asked whether prices would go down for passengers, she told the BBC she could not promise lower fares, but assured passengers they would get “great value for money”.The first SWR service under public ownership was a rail replacement bus.Passengers travelling on the 05.36 service from Woking to London Waterloo had to change to a bus at Surbiton because of engineering workThe service features the new GBR livery. The words “Great British Railways” and “coming soon” are painted in white against a royal blue background decorated with part of a unio …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
