{"id":992816,"date":"2026-05-29T19:19:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/992816\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T19:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T19:19:22","slug":"north-london-rail-operator-set-to-be-nationalised-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/992816\/","title":{"rendered":"North London rail operator set to be nationalised this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Govia Thameslink Railway operates Great Northern and Thameslink services through Enfield, Barnet and Haringey<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Great-Northern-train-6.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-149142\"  \/>A Great Northern train<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The UK\u2019s largest train operating company \u2013 which runs services on several routes in North London \u2013 will be officially nationalised this weekend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Responsible for one-in-six passenger rail journeys in Britain,\u00a0Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) operates Great Northern and Thameslink services through Enfield, Barnet and Haringey, as well as others elsewhere in the south-east of England.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">GTR is the latest operator to become publicly owned following the expiry of its private contract with the government this Sunday (31st).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another North London operator, Greater Anglia, was <a href=\"https:\/\/enfielddispatch.co.uk\/greater-anglia-to-be-nationalised-by-government-next-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">nationalised last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government says that a renationalised\u00a0GTR\u00a0will deliver a range of initiatives to improve performance and passenger experience under public ownership, such as training 110 new travel safe officers to crack down on anti-social behaviour on the network and improving communication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: \u201cFrom this Sunday, millions of passengers across the south-east and east of England will be travelling on rail services back in public hands \u2013 run for the public good, not private profit.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBringing Britain\u2019s largest train operator into public ownership is a defining moment in our reform of the railway. It gives us an opportunity to tackle the bread and butter issues people want, like driving down cancellations and improving the frequency of services to Gatwick Airport.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs we set up Great British Railways, we\u2019re putting passengers first, fixing what\u2019s broken, and delivering a railway people can rely on \u2013 one that rebuilds trust, regenerates communities and delivers the high standards passengers expect and deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The transfer follows the unveiling of the first Great British Railways (GBR) branded train at Brighton Station last week. More trains are set to follow in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">John Whitehurst, chief operating officer for\u00a0GTR, said: \u201cThis is a railway that carries millions of people to work, to school, and to see friends and family every single day. From this Sunday every one of them will be on a publicly-owned service, which is a responsibility we take seriously and one we have been preparing for.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe 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\u2019s right for our customers and communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat work means customers are already getting a railway that\u2019s been transforming, and public ownership gives us the chance to go further to deliver the railway that millions of people across the south-east deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Local news needs your support<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can\u2019t do this without the support of our readers. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Independent news outlets like ours \u2013 reporting for the community without rich backers \u2013 are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>ACT NOW!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Monthly direct debit\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pay.gocardless.com\/AL00061S9E8542\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1780082360_524_10-HCP.png\" style=\"height:40px; width:91px\"\/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/pay.gocardless.com\/AL00061S5481TN\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1780082361_547_5-HCP.png\" style=\"height:40px; width:91px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=TUNK36TZFGXYU\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Donate now with Pay Pal\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1780082362_841_13-2-paypal-donate-button-png-images.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haringeycommunitypress.co.uk\/support-us\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More information on supporting us monthly<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haringeycommunitypress.co.uk\/donations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More Information about donations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Govia Thameslink Railway operates Great Northern and Thameslink services through Enfield, Barnet and Haringey A Great Northern train&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":992817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,1234,4884,46652,257,162327,595,46653,1263,16,15],"class_list":["post-992816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-government","tag-great-britain","tag-great-northern","tag-london","tag-nationalisation","tag-rail","tag-thameslink","tag-transport","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116659485035374004","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/992817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}