FirstGroup,


which
has
a
majority
share
in
South
Western
Railway,
has
issued
a
farewell
message
as
the
countdown
to
Sunday¹s
renationalisation
goes
on.

First
Rail
managing
director
Steve
Montgomery
said
it
had
been
‘a
privilege’
for
FirstGroup
to
have
operated
SWR
since
2017.
Over
the
last
eight
years
FirstGroup
have
delivered
investment
in
SWR’s
rolling
stock
including
a
£70m
refurbishment
of
the
existing
Desiro
fleet;
a
new
depot
at
Feltham;
and
launching
the
new
Arterio
fleet.
While
the
Arterio
programme
had
been
slower
than
expected
due
to
a
number
of
factors
largely
beyond
FirstGroup’s
control,
the
number
of
new
trains
on
the
network
is
set
to
double
by
the
early
summer,
replacing
older
rolling
stock
and
giving
good
momentum
to
the
business
in
future.

He
continued:
‘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.

‘Improving
the
infrastructure,
customer
experience
and
rolling
stock
across
the
service
has
enabled
us
to
deliver
for
our
passengers,
who
make
165
million
journeys
each
year.
Right
up
until
the
final
weeks
we
have
continued
to
innovate,
with
a
new
fast
Wi-Fi
service
being
rolled
out.

‘I
would
like
to
thank
our
SWR
passengers
for
their
custom
during
this
time.
Above
all,
I
would
like
to
say
thanks
to
our
SWR
colleagues
for
their
hard
work
and
dedication
to
our
customers
and
recognise
the
important
role
all
those
across
the
business
have
played
in
delivering
these
improvements
to
the
service.
We
are
supporting
DfTO
to
ensure
a
smooth
transition
and
we
wish
passengers,
partners
and
colleagues
every
success
for
the
future.’

FirstGroup


and
its
franchise
partner
MTR
won
the
former
South
West
Trains
franchise
in
2017,
ousting
Stagecoach
after
21
years

(writes
Sim
Harris).
Stagecoach
itself
would
retire
from
the
privatised
rail
industry
two
years
later
as
the
result
of
a
dispute
with
the
Department
for
Transport
over
liability
for
railway
staff
pensions.

All
DfT
franchises
ceased
to
exist
in
September
2020
as
part
of
the
fall-out
from
Covid,
which
had
forced
the
government
to
introduce
‘emergency
measures’
in
March
to
protect
the
operators
from
insolvency
while
everyone
was
being
urged
not
to
travel
in
the
interests
of
public
health.

Most
franchises
were
replaced
over
time
by
National
Rail
Contracts,
a
form
of
management
contract
in
which
the
government
collected
all
revenue,
paying
each
operator’s
costs
and
a
management
fee.

However,
four
English
contracts
have
been
already
renationalised.
The
first
was
LNER
in
2018,
which
was
created
to
take
over
from
the
failed
Virgin
Trains
East
Coast
–
90
per
cent
of
which
was
actually
owned
by
Stagecoach.

The
three
others
which
followed
Intercity
East
Coast
into
state
hands,
in
the
shape
of
the
DfT’s
Operator
of
Last
Resort,
were
Northern
in
2020,
Southeastern
in
2021
and
TransPennine
Express
in
2023.
Northern
and
TPE
were
terminated
on
the
grounds
of
poor
performance,
while
it
was
discovered
that
Southeastern
had
failed
to
repay
£25
million
which
it
had
owed
to
the
Department
for
Transport
under
the
terms
of
its
contract.

Avanti
West
Coast
has
come
close
to
following
these
three
out
of
the
private
sector
as
anger
flared,
particularly
in
the
north
west
of
England,
about
the
high
level
of
cancellations,
which
was
attributed
to
a
shortage
of
drivers.
However
AWC,
which
is
owned
jointly
by
majority
shareholder
FirstGroup
and
Trenitalia,
is
not
expected
to
be
renationalised
for
now.
The
government
has
said
it
expects
to
take
over
AWC
on
an
unspecified
date
after
October
2026,
as
part
of
its
wider
renationalisation
policy.

This
policy
was
set
out
in
Labour’s
manifesto
for
last
year’s
general
election,
and
involves
a
gradual
takeover
of
all
the
remaining
DfT
passenger
operating
contracts,
in
preparation
for
the
creation
of
the
new
‘directing
mind’,
Great
British
Railways.

An
Act
of
Parliament
passed
in
November
changed
the
status
of
the
long-standing
Operator
of
Last
Resort,
which
had
existed
since
1993,
into
an
effective
‘Operator
of
First
Resort’.
Officially
known
now
as
DfT
Operator
Ltd,
this
new
law
makes
nationalisation
the
preferred
option,
rather
than
the
last
one.

The
DfT
has
to
step
carefully
in
making
renationalisation
a
reality,
because
re-absorbing
a
private
sector
operator
involves
complicated
detail.
To
avoid
overload,
the
takeovers
are
being
spread
out.

After
South
Western
Railway
passes
to
the
state
at
02.00
on
Sunday,
it
is
to
be
followed
by
c2c
on
20
July
and
Greater
Anglia
on
12
October.
The
other
seven
are
expected
to
have
followed
by
2027.

The
private
sector,
meanwhile,
has
tried
to
stay
on
the
rails
by
creating
more
‘open
access’
operators.
These
have
a
licence
from
the
Office
of
Rail
and
Road
but
no
contract
with
the
DfT,
which
will
not
rescue
them
if
their
business
plans
fail.

There
has
been
a
flurry
of
applications
for
such
licences,
particularly
after
Labour
won
power
last
July,
but
few
successes.
FirstGroup
has
gained
the
rights
to
run
from
London
to
Stirling
and
from
London
to
Carmarthen,
but
other
applications
from
the
Group
still
on
the
ORR’s
table
are
three
new
services
between
London
and
Rochdale,
Sheffield
and
Paignton,
and
an
extension
of
its
existing
Lumo
route
from
Edinburgh
to
Glasgow.

Virgin
Trains
has
put
forward
a
complex
series
of
routes
from
London
Euston
to
north
west
England
and
Scotland,
broadly
mirroring
its
former
West
Coast
franchise,
which
together
would
involve
something
like
35
departures
from
London
each
day,
while
Alstom
is
bidding
to
restore
services
between
London
and
Wrexham,
recalling
the
former
Wrexham
&
Shropshire
operation
which
ended
in
2011.

Before
the
election,
Labour
had
said
‘wherever
there
is
a
case
that
open
access
adds
value
and
capacity
to
the
network,
they
will
be
able
to
continue
to
compete’,
but
ministers
have
since
expressed
doubts
about
such
operators,
suggesting
in
particular
that
they
make
use
of
publicly-funded
infrastructure
at
bargain
rates.

The
DfT
recently
wrote
a
bleak
assessment
of
the
outstanding
open
access
applications,
giving
qualified
support
to
only
one
–
Alstom’s
bid
for
Wrexham.
Network
Rail
is
also
said
to
be
dubious
about
applicants
who
want
paths
on
the
congested
West
Coast
Main
Line.
Virgin,
in
particular,
would
occupy
between
70
and
80
a
day.

A
further
straw
in
the
wind
might
have
been
seen
this
week.
Grand
Central
launched
its
second
route,
between
London
and
Bradford
Interchange,
in
2010.
A
new
platform
0
has
just
opened
at
Bradford
Forster
Square,
and
state-owned
LNER
has
increased
the
number
of
trains
it
runs
to
London
from
two
to
seven
a
day.

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