The proportion of late trains on South Western Railway (SWR) surged to nearly half in the first year after its re-nationalization by the Labour government, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws. In the six months following the operator becoming the first of Britain's privatized train firms to be brought under full public ownership in May of last year, services arriving late on SWR increased from 34 percent to 46 percent.
While performance has reportedly improved since that initial period, data indicates that more trains were still arriving late a year after nationalization compared to before. Cancellations also rose during the same period, showing an increase of 1,000 compared to the year prior to nationalization.
Conservative Party transport spokesman Richard Holden criticized the situation, stating, "This is a railway being managed badly, at public expense, with no one now left to blame but this incompetent Labour Government." He added that Labour's approach involves "shovel[ing] millions out in compensation and consultancy fees."
In June, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander acknowledged in a House of Commons debate that SWR's performance "has not been up to scratch" and could not guarantee ticket prices would decrease amid widespread complaints. A Department for Transport spokesman described the analysis of SWR's decline during the initial six months of nationalization as misleading. The spokesman stated that the analysis compares a four-week period in late spring, when performance is typically better, with a four-week period in the autumn when seasonal conditions can affect punctuality across the entire network. The department also noted that nearly £360 million has been invested into SWR's infrastructure over the past year, and the number of new, more reliable trains has increased eightfold.