Five train companies serving London have been brought under public control under the Labour Government’s flagship railway nationalisation plan.
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companies → serve → plan
It is a popular policy that enjoys the backing of almost two-thirds of Britons, according to YouGov poll.
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that → enjoy → poll
But is it providing a better service for passengers?
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it → provide → passengers
The Standard examines what the data tells us so far.
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data → examine → us
Which London rail operators have been nationalised?
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operators → nationalise → ?
The UK’s largest train operator Govia Thameslink Railway as well as c2c, Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and Chiltern Railways have been brought into public ownership by the Government.
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operator → bring → Government
LNER and Southeastern were already nationalised when Labour came to power.
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Labour → nationalise → power
At the time Labour took power in July 2024, 23% of passenger journeys in Britain were on publicly owned services.
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% → take → services
Under the reforms, Great British Railways (GBR) will operate services, set timetables and eventually take over responsibility for maintaining and improving infrastructure from Network Rail.
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Railways → operate → Rail
The aim is to create a more reliable, efficient and joined-up rail network, with passengers hoping the changes will mean fewer disruptions to their journeys.
Is nationalisation making any difference to performance?
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nationalisation → create → performance
All five London-serving train operators brought into public ownership since May 2025 have recorded higher cancellation rates and an increase in delays than immediately before their takeovers.
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operators → serve → takeovers
South Western Railway (SWR), which runs services into London Waterloo, was the first train operator brought into public ownership under Labour in May last year.
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which → run → May
Read More
In the 12 months leading up to its takeover, an average of 3.6% of planned trains were cancelled.
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average → read → trains
By August 2026, that figure had risen to 4.28%, an increase of around 19%.
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figure → rise → %
Cancellations have also risen at c2c, which operates services between London and Essex, including Southend.
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which → rise → Southend
Its cancellation rate increased from 1.73% before nationalisation in July 2025 to 2.19% in August 2026 — a rise of around 27%.
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rate → increase → %
Despite the increase, c2c still cancels only a relatively small proportion of its planned services compared with other operators.
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c2c → cancel → operators
Greater Anglia has seen its cancellation rate rise by around 20%, West Midlands Trains by 28%, and Govia Thameslink Railway by 5%.
Punctuality has also worsened.
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Punctuality → see → %
All five operators recorded a higher proportion of train stops more than three minutes late in the latest figures than immediately before nationalisation.
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operators → record → nationalisation
The largest relative increase was at c2c, where the proportion of late stops rose from 6.72% to 9.36% — an increase of around 39%.
Greater Anglia recorded an increase of around 26%, while South Western Railway saw a rise of approximately 8%.
West Midlands Trains recorded a 9% increase, while Govia Thameslink Railway saw a rise of around 6%.
Are more cancellations due to nationalisation?
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cancellations → rise → nationalisation
It is still too early to draw any conclusions about the impact of nationalisation.
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It → draw → nationalisation
Of the five London-serving operators brought into public ownership since May 2025, only South Western Railway and c2c had completed a full year under public ownership by August 2026.
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Railway → serve → August
Govia Thameslink Railway, for example, had been publicly owned for less than five months.
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Railway → own → months
The ORR figures are also based on rolling 12-month averages, meaning the latest results for some operators still include months when they were privately run.
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they → base → months
Travel expert Christian Wolmar told The Standard it was “way too early” to know what the impact of nationalisation may be.
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impact → tell → nationalisation
“It’s a bit like trying to work out the result of a football match ten minutes into the first half,” he said, adding “GBR hasn't even been created yet which will impose discipline on the whole concept.”
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which → ’ → concept
He added: “Essentially it’s working towards an idea that is good, that the railways are integrated.
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railways → add → idea
“Separating them off has always been a bizarre idea because most rail networks around the world function on an integrated organisation.
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networks → separate → organisation
It’s a complex structure to bring together and they are barely a third of the way through to appoint people so you really can't say.
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you → ’ → people
“There's signs that sensible decisions are being made over investment as relevant people are coming around the table.
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people → be → table
Looking at the wider picture, publicly owned train operators recorded lower average cancellation rates and fewer delays than privately operated services in the 12 months to August 2026.
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operators → look → August
Across 24 operators, the average cancellation rate was 3.53% for publicly owned services, compared with 4.14% for privately operated services.
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rate → own → services
Publicly owned operators also performed better on punctuality.
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operators → own → punctuality
On average, 18.76% of their station stops were more than three minutes late, compared with 23.31% for privately operated services.
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% → compare → services
However, these figures do not take into account how many trains each operator runs.
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operator → take → trains
This means a small operator running relatively few services has the same effect on the average as a much larger operator running thousands of trains.
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operator → mean → trains
The figures therefore give a broad picture of how operators are performing, rather than showing the percentage of all trains cancelled or delayed.
They also do not prove that public ownership is the reason for better performance.
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ownership → give → performance
Other factors, such as weather, trespass incidents, signalling problems and the condition of railway tracks, can affect services regardless of who runs them.
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who → affect → them
For London specifically, there’s also the question of whether — following nationalisation — TfL will be given control of the “within London” commuter railway or if GBR will set up its own branch specifically to serve the capital.
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GBR → ’ → capital
Questions also remain around the cost of nationalising the railways.
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Questions → remain → railways
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
