Train firms need to 'earn the right' to carry Great British Railways rebranding - The Mirror

Train firms need to 'earn the right' to carry Great British Railways rebrandingThe Government is set to mark an important milestone in rail renationalisation plans when South Western

Railways is brought back into public ownership as a new-look design for trains is revealedCommentsNewsGraham Hiscott Head of Business06:00, 22 May 2025Updated 09:09, 22 May 2025Rail

companies will have to improve passenger standards before they can carry the Great British Railways rebranding(Image: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock) Train firms being nationalised will be

blocked from carrying new Great British Railways livery until they have come up-to-scratch, particularly on passenger standards, sources say.

Ten train companies will be nationalised by the Labour government between now and October 2027 - beginning with South Western Railway this Sunday. However, it is understood none of the

companies’ fleet of trains will be rebranded until they meet demanding standards. These are believed to cover improving punctuality, reducing cancellations, and making the passenger

experience better, including seating. A government source said: “They need to earn the right to be called Great British Railways”.

‌South Western Railways will be the first operator renationalised by Labour (Image: Alamy Live News.)‌ Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander is poised to unveil the design that will appear on

renationalised routes, and which will become a familiar sight on railways and stations used by millions of passengers every day across the country. It comes after the British Rail design

rolling stock - with its double arrow design - was scrapped with privatisation of the railways in the late 1990s.

Speaking ahead of the event, Ms Alexander said: “Through public ownership, we will fix our broken railways to get Britain moving.” Renationalising the railways will seen as delivering on a

key plank of Labour election manifesto.

Article continues below Four rail franchises - LNER, Northern, Southeastern, and TransPennine Express - have already been brought back into public ownership by the previous Tory government.

Heidi Alexander: 'Through privatisation we will fix our broken railways to get Britain moving'(Image: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publis) Great British Railways is also the new quango that

will oversee the renationalised trains, but its launch has been delayed until 2027.

Article continues below Transport giant FirstGroup, which operated South Western Railway with MTR since 2017, insisted it had been a success. Its operations cover commuter, regional and

long-distance services in south-west London, the southern counties of England and the Isle of Wight. During its time, passenger numbers increased to a pre-pandemic high of 216 million and

now stand at more than 165 million, FirstGroup said.

Steve Montgomery, managing director of the firm’s First Rail division, said: “Passengers have been at the forefront of service improvement throughout our eight year stewardship of these

important routes. We are proud of how SWR brings people together across the south east of England.”