23-05-2025
First nationalised train will be a rail replacement bus
The first nationalised rail service is set to be a rail replacement bus, it has emerged.
South Western Railway is the first train operator to be renationalised as part of the Labour Government's flagship rail reforms.
It will be taken into state ownership from 2am on Sunday, with the first service set to depart from Woking for London Waterloo at 5.36am.
However, passengers intending to travel beyond Surbiton will have to change onto a rail replacement bus to complete their journey because of engineering works near Raynes Park.
Gareth Bacon, the shadow transport secretary, said: 'Only Labour could nationalise a train company and launch it with a rail replacement bus. They are taking us back to the 1970s.
'Since the Labour took over the railways, their need to satisfy their union paymasters led to a 15 per cent pay rise with no strings attached, which was paid for by already hard-pressed commuters who have faced a 4.5 per cent increase in rail fares.
'Labour have talked up renationalisation for years – now they have to deliver. But from day one, their grand plan already looks like it's going off the rails.'
To celebrate the nationalisation, Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, is expected to board the 6.14am Waterloo to Shepperton service on Sunday. It is set to be diverted around the disruption.
'Sunday marks a watershed moment in the Government's plan to return the railways to the service of passengers and reform our broken railway,' she told Parliament on Thursday.
The service Ms Alexander will board will be run using one of the controversial Class 701 Arterio trains, a new model that has been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, problems with onboard software and trade unions' demands for guards to be kept on the trains even though they are designed for driver-only operation.
It will be SWR's first London departure under Government control.
But the first scheduled service after the 2am switchover to state control is the 5.36am departure from Woking.
On any other Sunday, this train would go through to London Waterloo, taking about three-quarters of an hour. This weekend, however, a passenger wanting to take it faces a journey more than double the usual length, at two hours and two minutes.
Instead of going to London, the service is set to terminate at Surbiton – some 25 minutes up the line from Woking – leaving passengers to scramble for a replacement bus.
After an hour winding through the back streets of south-west London, travellers will be deposited at Clapham Junction. From there, they can take an 11-minute train to Waterloo.
Ms Alexander, the Cabinet minister, added in her Parliamentary statement on Thursday: 'Public ownership alone is not a silver bullet and will not fix the structural problems hindering the railways currently. That will take time.'
Sunday will not be the first time that railway problems have hindered ministerial plans.
On Thursday, track damage caused by a Freightliner train near Micheldever, in Hampshire, triggered extensive disruption to services across southern England – including from Bournemouth, where Ms Alexander had been hosting an event to mark SWR's transfer into her direct control.
A service carrying Lord Hendy, the rail minister, arrived at Waterloo almost an hour late as a result of the disruption.
A spokesman for South Western Railway and Network Rail said: 'Maintenance and upgrades, essential for enhancing services for customers, are planned many months in advance and this bank holiday weekend is no different.'
