HOLIDAYMAKERS are to get twice as many trains to one of Britain’s busiest airports after the country’s largest rail operator was taken into public ownership.
The Government has pledged to double the frequency of Gatwick Express services between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport from December, as Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) became the latest train company to be nationalised today.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander hailed it as “a defining moment in our reform of the railway”, with GTR’s four brands – Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express – carrying one in six of all train journeys made across Britain.
As well as the boost for Gatwick passengers, more early morning services on Saturdays and Mondays will be introduced from this summer.
The Government also pledged to crack down on graffiti in Thameslink train toilets, upgrade signalling between Farringdon and Blackfriars to cut delays, and deploy 110 new travel safe officers to tackle anti-social behaviour across the network.
Ms Alexander said millions of passengers across the South East and East of England would now be “travelling on rail services back in public hands — run for the public good, not private profit.”
She added the nationalisation gave the Government “an opportunity to tackle the bread and butter issues people want, like driving down cancellations and improving the frequency of services to Gatwick Airport.”
GTR chief operating officer John Whitehurst said the railway “carries millions of people to work, to school, and to see friends and family every single day,” adding that public ownership “gives us the chance to go further to deliver the railway that millions of people across the South East deserve.”
GTR is the fifth operator to be nationalised under the current Government, joining c2c, Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and West Midlands Trains. LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express had already been brought into public hands before Labour came to power.
The nationalisation is part of a sweeping overhaul of Britain’s railways, with a new body called Great British Railways (GBR) set to bring responsibility for both tracks and trains under a single roof for the first time since privatisation in the mid-1990s.
Legislation to create GBR was included in the recent King’s Speech, and the first train carrying its branding — a Southern service — was unveiled in Brighton earlier this month.
Chiltern Railways is next in line to be nationalised on September 20, followed by Great Western Railways on December 13, with the full programme expected to be completed by the end of next year.
GTR’s takeover into public hands comes years after Southern became notorious for chronic delays and cancellations.
At its worst, the 7.29am Brighton to London Victoria service failed to arrive on time during any of its 240 runs throughout 2014.
The operator blamed high demand and congestion, though it was also hit by a bitter industrial dispute with drivers and conductors over staffing, including a row over who should operate train doors.