South Western Railway to Transfer into Public Ownership on May 25

South Western Railway’s services will transfer into public ownership on Sunday, May 25, 2025.

It will be the first to transfer to public ownership under the Passenger Railways Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which Parliament passed in November.

Starting Sunday, operations will be run by a new public sector operator – South Western Railway Limited. For now, it will be a subsidiary of the public corporation, DfT Operator Limited (DfTO), which will eventually transfer into Great British Railways (GBR) once established.

C2C’s services will be next to transfer into public ownership on July 20, 2025, and, as previously announced, Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander has issued an expiry notice to Greater Anglia confirming that their contract with the department will expire on Oct. 12, 2025. Greater Anglia’s services will transfer into public ownership on this date.

The Public Ownership measure will consolidate 14 train operating companies, Network Rail and DfTO into one organization.