Chiltern Railways has become the sixth train operator to transfer into public ownership under Labour’s rail nationalisation programme, taking the London Marylebone–Birmingham route onto the state side of British transport.
The move brings the government closer to its ambition of bringing all major passenger rail services under public control. Four further operators are due to follow by the end of 2027, with Great Western Railway expected to transfer next in December.
The Department for Transport says public ownership will allow it to address overcrowding, reliability and passenger facilities more directly. Chiltern customers are being promised a wider timetable, additional seats, new trains, station improvements and upgraded onboard services, including better Wi-Fi.
Chiltern passengers face a larger service offer
The first major change is scheduled for December, when 25 additional daily services will enter the Chiltern timetable. The department expects those extra trains to provide 10,000 additional seats on each weekday as further rolling stock is introduced.
The wider improvement package also includes new trains, upgraded stations and better onboard facilities. Chiltern Railways will remain the operating company, but it will now do so as part of the publicly owned railway rather than as a privately contracted franchise.
Rail minister Peter Hendy visited London Marylebone on Sunday to mark the transfer. He argued that public ownership would give officials greater scope to tackle the practical concerns affecting daily passengers.
“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,” Hendy said.
Interim managing director Tony Baxter welcomed the decision, saying customers would see “improvements made possible thanks to years of planning, dedication and hard work by Chiltern colleagues. Public ownership will further strengthen that progress through closer collaboration across the industry.”
Great British Railways takes another step
The government established the legislative framework for transferring private train operators into public ownership in 2024, with contracts being brought back into state control as they fall due. Chiltern joins four operators already publicly owned and Network Rail in the planned structure for Great British Railways, the integrated body at the centre of Labour’s transport policy.
Hendy acknowledged that creating a genuinely joined-up railway would take 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.”
For the government, Chiltern is an early test of whether nationalisation can produce visible improvements before the full Great British Railways structure is complete. The promised timetable expansion and new capacity will be closely watched by passengers on a route that carries a substantial commuter flow between the Midlands and the capital.
The department says public ownership also creates a “fresh opportunity to deliver East West Rail”, the long-awaited service connecting Oxford and Milton Keynes. The project forms part of the future Oxford–Cambridge corridor and has already been affected by delays.
East West Rail remains caught up in dispute
No new start date has emerged for the Oxford–Milton Keynes section following Chiltern’s transfer. The line was expected to begin operating on a completed stretch in 2025 under Chiltern, but the project has slipped behind schedule for a variety of reasons.
The largest immediate obstacle is the dispute over driver-only operation. The Department for Transport supports trains being run without a guard, while the RMT union says the arrangement would compromise safety and jobs. The union is due to demonstrate outside London Marylebone on Monday and is balloting its members on strike action.
The dispute presents a difficult test for the government’s nationalisation plan. Public ownership gives ministers greater direct influence over railway operations, but it does not remove the industrial relations challenges facing the network.
It also risks distracting from the early stages of Great British Railways at precisely the moment the government is seeking to demonstrate that transferring operators into public ownership will deliver a more dependable service.
More transfers are expected before 2028
Great Western Railway is due to become the next operator to enter public ownership in December. Four further services are expected to follow by
