Government sets date for nationalisation of Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway (GWR) services will be nationalised from 13 December, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced.

It will be the 11th operator with a Government contract to be taken into public ownership.

GWR connects Paddington in west London with south and south-west England and south Wales.

The three remaining operators in private ownership will be Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway.

A DfT spokesperson said: “This is another significant moment for the Government’s flagship public ownership programme and brings a simpler, more reliable network under Great British Railways a step closer.

“The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring services back into public ownership and put passengers, not shareholders, at the heart of our railways.”

Ministers earlier said that their plans for the publicly owned Great British Railways aim to deliver better value.

They include modernising ticketing with tap-in, tap-out and digital options, alongside investing in superfast wifi.

GBR trains, websites and stations will also be getting new branding in the coming months.

The major train operators brought under state control have, until now, retained their old owners’ branding.

The new red, white and blue design was inspired by the Union flag and developed internally to maximise value for money.

The process of nationalising England’s trains began in 2024 with the passing of the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, which allowed the Government to take over rail contracts without penalty.

South Western Railway was the first major operator brought under state control in May 2025, followed by c2c (which runs between London and Essex) and Greater Anglia (which operates in the East of England).

In February, the halfway point was marked in the creation of Great British Railways, as London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway, both franchises of West Midlands Trains (WMT), became the latest operators to be moved into public ownership.

The Government said that half of all railway journeys that the new body will be responsible for were now running publicly.

Govia Thameslink Railway is the next company to move to state ownership, on 31 May.