Today, Amanda Martin MP welcomed the new branded Great British Railways train at Waterloo Station. Amanda met with the Great British Railways team to view the new train designs in person as Great British Railways moves full steam ahead, with more services returning to public ownership this week and an exciting new national brand being rolled out across the country.
This comes alongside Britain’s largest rail operator returning to public ownership on Sunday. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which operates Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express services, is responsible for around one in six passenger rail journeys in Britain, carrying hundreds of millions of passengers every year.
GTR is the fifth operator to enter public ownership under the Government’s Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act.
This latest milestone means that nationalised operators now deliver 8 in 10 passenger rail journeys that Great British Railways will ultimately be responsible for.
Amanda Martin, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North has welcomed this latest step in the Labour Government’s plan to put passengers first and deliver a railway people across Portsmouth can rely on.
GTR being brought back into public hands follows the unveiling of the first Great British Railways branded train in Brighton last week, marking another important milestone towards public ownership.
Heidi Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport said: “From this Sunday, passengers across the South East, travelling on Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern or the Gatwick Express will be using services that are owned by the public.
“Bringing Britain’s largest operator into public ownership is a defining moment for this Labour Government’s plan to deliver a railway passengers can rely on”
Amanda Martin MP for Portsmouth North said: “This is welcome news for passengers across Portsmouth. For too long communities here have had to put up with a broken rail system.”
“Nationalisation of our railways will mean services across Portsmouth being run in the interests of passengers. This is all part of this Labour Government’s plan to deliver better, more reliable rail services for passengers.”
