GWR’s services, which run from Taunton, Bristol, Gloucester and other major stations across the West and South Wales, will come under the control of the government’s new Great British Railways organisation.
Helen Godwin, mayor for the West of England Combined Authority, welcomed the news.
“We deserve four trains an hour at stations across our growing regional rail network,” she said, adding: “We’ll continue working with partners to deliver the infrastructure needed to make that ambition a reality.”
GWR has been running trains across the south-west of England since 1833, with the first line built between Bristol and London.
Several rail operators are already publicly owned, including Greater Anglia and South Western Railway.