Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander has welcomed the nationalisation of Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), describing it as a landmark step in the government’s railway reform programme.
GTR accounts for one in six train journeys across the UK, making it the largest train franchise to enter public ownership to date.
Its four brands, Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express, serve large areas of south-east England and beyond.
Alexander said: “From this Sunday, millions of passengers across the South East and East of England will be travelling on rail services back in public hand, run for the public good, not private profit.”
She added: “Bringing Britain’s largest train operator into public ownership is a defining moment in our reform of the railway.”
The Department for Transport has committed to doubling the frequency of Gatwick Express services between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport from December.
Plans also include introducing more early morning services on Saturdays and Mondays from this summer, alongside upgrades to signalling between Farringdon and Blackfriars to reduce delays.
The department will deploy 110 new travel safe officers across the network to address anti-social behaviour and also pledged to tackle graffiti in Thameslink train toilets.
Alexander said the move gives 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.”
She added: “As we set up Great British Railways (GBR), we’re putting passengers first, fixing what’s broken, and delivering a railway people can rely on.”
GBR 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 GBR was included in the recent King’s Speech, with the first train displaying GBR branding unveiled in Brighton earlier this month.
GTR chief operating officer John Whitehurst said: “This is a railway that carries millions of people to work, to school, and to see friends and family every single day.”
He added: “We have spent the past year building the foundations, and bringing even deeper integration into our operations with Network Rail, with a single focus on what’s right for our customers and communities.”
Whitehurst said public ownership gives GTR the chance “to go further to deliver the railway that millions of people across the South East deserve.”
GTR becomes the fifth operator to enter public ownership, joining c2c, Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and West Midlands Trains.
LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express had already been nationalised before Labour came to power.
Chiltern Railways will transfer next on 20 September, followed by Great Western Railways on 13 December, with the full programme expected to complete by the end of next year.