Chiltern Railways will be the latest operator to become publicly owned at the weekend, with the Department for Transport (DfT) promising extra services, more seats and less overcrowding
A railway operator connecting London with the West Midlands will become the sixth to transfer into public ownership on Sunday.
Chiltern Railways will see an extra 25 daily services added from December to tackle chronic overcrowding, the Department for Transport (DfT) vowed. Rail Minister Lord Hendy said the move, which was confirmed in May, will give passengers more frequent and comfortable trains which turn up on time.
Improvements will mean 10,000 additional seats every weekday, the DfT said. Chiltern follows South Western Railway, c2c, Greater Anglia, West Midlands Trains and Govia Thameslink into public ownership.
Labour came to power pledging to set up a new national operator, Great British Railways (GBR), promising a new era of improved public transport. Lord Hendy said: “Every transfer into public ownership gives us the chance to tackle the bread-and-butter issues people care about – more frequent, comfortable trains that turn up on time.
“As we set up Great British Railways, we’re putting passengers first. It will not happen overnight, but we will build a railway the country can trust and rely on and that will create growth, jobs and homes.”
In a statement the DfT said the 25 extra weekday services will include half hourly trains on the Chiltern Mainline between London and Birmingham. There will also be six state-of-the-art Chiltern Explorer trains in operation from December, with better air-conditioning and wi-fi.
And the government has pledged all carriages will be improved by 2028, with charging points at every seat after a £12million refurbishment. There will also be improvements at stations, including more parking spaces at Haddenham and Thame Parkway, it said.
Tony Baxter, interim managing director of Chiltern Railways, said: “Sunday is a significant milestone for Chiltern Railways and we look forward to working together with the wider rail industry to deliver a better railway for everyone in Great Britain.
“Over the next 12 months, our customers in London, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands will benefit from more new trains, more services, thousands of additional seats, improvements to stations and on-board facilities and the ability to use their ticket on other operators when faced with disruption – customer improvements made possible thanks to years of planning, dedication and hard work by Chiltern colleagues.”
On December 13 Great Western Railway will become the seventh to become publicly owned, with all operators set to be in public hands by the end of 2027.
The government says bringing track and train services under one organisation will make the network more efficient and result in problems being fixed faster.