A year after nationalisation, is South Western Railway delivering? | Rail transport
South Western Railway’s newest train, wrapped in union jack-inspired Great British Railways livery, may divide opinion on aesthetics, but the interior is certainly an upgrade: air-conditioned carriages, more space and greater passenger capacity. For ministers, the fact that it is the 45th Arterio model brought into service since the SWR network was nationalised is vindication of the GBR approach. As the first operator to be renationalised under Labour’s plans, SWR has attracted some scrutiny. Ministers said its GBR badge was a right to be earned, only for punctuality to plunge amid a cascade of failures of tracks, trains and staffing. However, exactly 12 months on, SWR has reached the threshold where half – and soon a majority – of the new £1bn fleet of 90 commuter trains is running after years of delay since the order was placed under the old privatised and fragmented system. Speaking at the launch at London Waterloo, Peter Hendy, the rail minister, said the accelerated rollout since May 2025 showed the difference reforms were already making. A single managing director …
