LNW-GW Joint
Veteran Member
It's probably the second step to reforming the Southern Region (the first being that Southeastern is already government-run).As an SWR commuter, I have to say I'm somewhat unclear as to how this will benefit me or the service being delivered.
As I understand from much of the parallel discussions on here, the issues around, say, service frequency, are down to the DfT's service specification. I'm not clear how transitioning to public ownership actually makes anything better, except maybe making subsequent and unspecified reform easier.
But we don't really know how the TOCs will be integrated together (if indeed they are).
It would mean that MTR, having lost the Elizabeth Line contract, is no longer involved in UK rail - FirstGroup would still have GWR and Avanti.
A May handover does seem cautious, but the DfT has to get itself and (Shadow) GBR organised by then.
There's a certain symmetry about it - South West Trains was the first franchise contracted out on 4 Feb 1996 (along with Great Western Trains).