Chiltern Railways, operator of West Midlands-London line, moves under national ownership

Chiltern Railways has become the latest train operator to come under national ownership.

The company has joined five other transport firms whose rail services have been nationalised by the Government, with a promise that 25 additional daily services will be introduced from December, providing 10,000 extra seats each weekday.

Other planned improvements include new trains, upgraded stations and better facilities on board.

Chiltern Railways operates a line between Kidderminster, the Black Country, Birmingham and London, calling at stations such as Stourbridge Junction, Cradley Heath, The Hawthorns and Jewellery Quarter.

It also runs services in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

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Interim managing director Tony Baxter said: "This is a significant milestone for Chiltern Railways and we look forward to working together with the wider rail industry to deliver a better railway for everyone in Great Britain.

"Over the next 12 months, our customers in London, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands will benefit from more new trains, more services, thousands of additional seats, improvements to stations and on-board facilities and the ability to use their ticket on other operators when faced with disruption.

"Public ownership will further strengthen that progress through closer collaboration across the industry, helping us share best practice, drive innovation and focus on what matters most to customers, businesses and communities across our network."

Great British Railways will be a new public sector body bringing responsibility for tracks and trains under a single organisation for the first time since privatisation in the mid-1990s.

Legislation to create it was included in the recent King's Speech.

West Midlands Trains, which operates services between a host of stations across Shropshire, the Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire, moved under the control of Great British Railway in February.

The UK's largest train operator Govia Thameslink Railway, c2c, Greater Anglia and South Western Railway have also been nationalised while Great Western Railway, which operates mainly in the South West and South Wales, will follow on December 13.

LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express were already nationalised when Labour came to power in 2024 and the entire programme of renationalisation is set to be completed by the end of 2027.

Rail minister Lord Hendy said: "Every transfer into public ownership gives us the chance to tackle the bread-and-butter issues people care about - more frequent, comfortable trains that turn up on time.

"As we set up Great British Railways, we're putting passengers first. It will not happen overnight but we will build a railway the country can trust and rely on and that will create growth, jobs and homes."