Next Sunday, 31st May, the government will transfer Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), along with its subsidiaries Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, and Gatwick Express, into public ownership.

Among the benefits to passengers will be doubling the number of trains each hour between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport, the recruitment of more drivers to reduce cancellations, and training 110 new Travel Safe Officers who will be tasked with cracking down on anti-social behaviour.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is Britain’s largest train operating company, and operates 1 in 6 passenger rail journeys in the UK, carrying hundreds of millions of passengers each year.

Under public ownership, GTR will initially have a 100-day plan for getting the basics right and creating a reliable service. The major improvements will be:

• Gatwick Express services: extra early morning services on Saturdays and Mondays. Starting this summer, double the number of services each hour, and extra Great Northern services, from next December.
• Recruit more Drivers: 75 more drivers will be recruited by Thameslink and Great Northern this year, 40 more drivers at Southern and Gatwick Express.
• Toilet improvements: Toilets on Thameslink trains are being refreshed to remove graffiti and make them more welcoming. The toilets of two trains will be resurfaced each week, with over half the fleet improved by next December.
• Safety: 110 Travel Safe Officers are being trained to support revenue protection, improve security, and combat anti-social behaviour.
• Signalling: A secondary signalling system will be installed between Farringdon and Blackfriars to reduce delays, boost resilience, and will prevent over 1,000 cancellations a year.
• Better customer communication: When services are disrupted, a customer support WhatsApp channel will be available for passengers to get help from staff directly via a customer support WhatsApp channel.

Great British Railways also aims to deliver faster compensation for delays and tougher action on fare evasion. The first train branded in Great British Railways livery was unveiled in Brighton on Thursday, 21st May.

“From this Sunday, millions of passengers across the South East and East of England will be travelling on rail services back in public hands – run for the public good, not private profit. Bringing Britain’s largest train operator into public ownership is a defining moment in our reform of the railway. It gives us an opportunity to tackle the bread-and-butter issues people want, like driving down cancellations and improving the frequency of services to Gatwick Airport. As we set up Great British Railways, we’re putting passengers first, fixing what’s broken, and delivering a railway people can rely on – one that rebuilds trust, regenerates communities and delivers the high standards passengers expect and deserve.”

Heidi Alexander, Transport Secretary