First Group bid farewell to South Western Railway with nationalisation this weekend
First Group are bidding farewell to control of South Western Railway with imminent nationalisation coming this weekend.
Alongside MTR, rail services on SWR have been operated by First since 2017 when they took over from Stagecoach.
It’s fair to say it hasn’t all been plain sailing with one of the slowest roll outs of new stock ever seen. Class 701 Arterios were ordered in 2017 for commencement in passenger service from 2019.
That ended up happening five years late and they still operate a handful of services. While the botched roll-out was delayed existing trains were scrapped.
They’ve attempted to place a positive aspect on their tenure today and state new trains have “been slower than expected due to a number of factors largely beyond FirstGroup’s control”. Some may raise an eyebrow at that.
Issues such as driver training have dragged on extremely slowly for years.
Improvements
Those believing nationalisation will be an instant panacea may well be disappointed. After all Southeastern has been under direct government control for four years now and saw substantial cuts in 2022.
While senior leadership within Southeastern have sought improvements ultimately it comes down to money and the Treasury and Department for Transport have pushed through service reductions and shown reluctance to restore services.
Many stations on SE Metro land remain unstaffed much of the day – again in areas of housing growth such as Kidbrooke – even after a modest increase in staff.
These issues occurred under both the prior Conservative government who nationalised the company and their Labour successors. Despite campaigning against cuts while in opposition, two timetable changes have occurred since taking power without an increase, for example, in trains linking the wildly popular Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood to areas of housing growth in north Kent.
In terms of fares, government have set regulated fares throughout privatisation and franchises so little change expected there.
In fact government always held much power and franchises were often a handy target for frustration and that direct influence only became stronger since the pandemic.
Government control of SWR begins this weekend as part of the wider roll out of Great British Railways. One hope is a joined-up organisation can drive greater efficiency than the horrendously cumbersome and expensive franchise system which could in turn yield lower operating costs. In turn savings could be reinvested in improved services, fare promotions, extra staffing and the like.
But again, this depends on whether government and ministers are willing to give up power to the new GBR organisation and limit interference. We’ll see if they are.
About time. Plus the new operator should start introducing the rest of the Class 701 and to start getting rid of the Class 455 that are getting old and to be sent for scrap. With the Class 701 to operate on the Shepperton, Hampton Court, Chessington South and orbital routes via Strawberry Hill and Hounslow.
And to use the Class 701 on the Reading, Windsor and Eton Riverside, Guildford, Woking and Dorking outer-suburban services. And the Class 458 to be used on other services including the Alton service and the Portsmouth-Southampton stopper shuttle.
It’s not been all SWT fault.
The unions have some blame and the train manufacturer
So True. But I actually do miss South West Trains as much as what is happening with South Western Railway. Or is South Western Railway to be retained but to be taken over by the Government.
The unions can’t be blamed for train faults. That’s absolutely desperate.
Adios South Western Railway. Thanks for dominating the railways across Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset and the Solent area. As well as the Isle of Wight since taking over from South West Trains in 2017.
Hopefully the new franchise will allow more Class 701 trains to enter service operate on the suburban and orbital routes around Southwest London. And to start displaying the Class 455 that are in need of getting scrapped.
And maybe perhaps replace the existing Class 158 and Class 159 DMU rolling stocks with new Bi-mode trains to operate on London Waterloo-Salisbury, Exeter Central, Westbury and Southampton-Salisbury routes (including via Chandlers End).
Except for the 701 fiasco, most of the issues in SW territory are down to Network Rail to solve. However it would be nice to have something resembling a better spaced Off-Peak service at Basingstoke where I live. In the evening there are 3 semi fast services leaving Waterloo in one 15 min stretch, with the occasional Salisbury line train stretching that to 4 in 30 minutes. The rest of the hour there is zilch with the xx.35 reserved for the grander folk of Winchester as first stop.
Good riddance to the worst train operator ever to run services out of Waterloo,they took over a well run franchise by south West trains (stagecoach)in 2017,and have decimated the service on a daily basis,cancelled trains,short formed trains,an obsession with skipping stations with trains that are sometimes only a few minutes late,they have an A toZ of random excuses that they chose from,they have no clue how to manage disruption apart from cancel everything and hope the problem goes away,the trains keep developing faults mid journey,the whole thing is a shambles. I don’t think any regular passengers will miss them.
No buffet service on Waterloo to Portsmouth harbour, still blaming the worn out old excuse of covid. This was once an inter city route, and the seats on some of their stock could best be described as worn out ironing board covers. Good riddance. Railways belong in the public sector. Two more to raise a glass to before the end of the year, being Greater anglia, and C2C. I shan’t mourn their passing.
I think this will be a disaster for SouthWestern train commuters. I’ve used both Southeastern trains (government run) and SouthWestern trains (privately run) to get me from/to Chislehurst and Richmond. The difference is astonishing. SouthWestern users have a shock coming: dirty trains, no train guards, long journey times, lack of visible staff, tatty stations, indifferent management. Welcome to nationalisation! The difference when walking from Waterloo station to Waterloo East station is a visual reminder of how nationalisation will take us back in time (and not in a good way).
It’s not nationalisation that is the problem, it’s what operators are ALLOWED or ENABLED to do by the DFT. Most of BR’s issues were in the context of an indifferent state, usually one that didn’t WANT to expand or fund rail better, and the growth of motoring and flying. It doesn’t HAVE to be this way.
Good Riddance First/MTR SWR, Millions wasted on bringing back the class 442s from storage and getting them back into service, add a new motor traction package then SCRAP them soon afterwards, the Class 458s reduced back to 4 cars from 5 for the Portsmouth line only for that idea to be ditched, 45 year old trains more reliable then the class 701 that was meant to replace them, at least Stagecoach were capable or dealing with issues and minimizing the delays this bunch were useless John Major should have NEVER buggered the railways up like he did selling the trains to three companies, who leased them back to British Rail to run services, the infrastructure to Failtrack and sold off to shareholders, that was incompetent and only the Grayrigg train derailment on the west coast line and the Potters Barr train derailments highlighted this, meaning that every set of points had to be examined urgently to ensure they were safe, the only success in Privatisation is to the private companies who have been fleecing the passengers since 1996
Also forgot to mention that the new franchise should consider reopening the Fawley Branch Line and to have two new railway stations built including at Marchwood and at Fawley.
And to operate a shuttle service from Southampton Central to Fawley using the Class 159 Sprinter Express DMU trains.
A word of caution. Nationalised SE running half as many trains on the Hayes line agaun, and their Sunday service remains stuck in the early 20th century. And barriers open at Lewisham. It’s not ownership that matters so much as how operators are funded and what poor practices they are allowed to get away with.