Train firms need to 'earn the right' to carry Great British Railways rebranding

Train firms being nationalised will be blocked from carrying new Great British Railways livery until they have come up-to-scratch, particularly on passenger standards, sources say.

Ten train companies will be nationalised by the Labour government between now and October 2027 - beginning with South Western Railway this Sunday. However, it is understood none of the companies’ fleet of trains will be rebranded until they meet demanding standards. These are believed to cover improving punctuality, reducing cancellations, and making the passenger experience better, including seating. A government source said: “They need to earn the right to be called Great British Railways”.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is poised to unveil the design that will appear on renationalised routes, and which will become a familiar sight on railways and stations used by millions of passengers every day across the country. It comes after the British Rail design rolling stock - with its double arrow design - was scrapped with privatisation of the railways in the late 1990s.

Speaking ahead of the event, Ms Alexander said: “Through public ownership, we will fix our broken railways to get Britain moving.” Renationalising the railways will seen as delivering on a key plank of Labour election manifesto.

Four rail franchises - LNER, Northern, Southeastern, and TransPennine Express - have already been brought back into public ownership by the previous Tory government.

After South Western, the timetable for future renationalisations include c2C on July 20, Greater Anglia on October 12, then West Midlands Trains, East Midlands Railway, and Avanti West Coast next year.

Great British Railways is also the new quango that will oversee the renationalised trains, but its launch has been delayed until 2027. It is understood that those train firms that fail to meet the minimum standards will be run by DfT Operator, a holding company set-up by the Department for Transport, until they improve to a level where they can be rebranded as Great British Railways.

Transport giant FirstGroup, which operated South Western Railway with MTR since 2017, insisted it had been a success. Its operations cover commuter, regional and long-distance services in south-west London, the southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight. During its time, passenger numbers increased to a pre-pandemic high of 216 million and now stand at more than 165 million, FirstGroup said.

Steve Montgomery, managing director of the firm’s First Rail division, said: “Passengers have been at the forefront of service improvement throughout our eight year stewardship of these important routes. We are proud of how SWR brings people together across the south east of England.”