By Chiltern Railways services will move into public ownership tomorrow – Sunday 20 September 2026.
Connecting London Marylebone with communities across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands, Chiltern Railways will become the sixth operator whose services transfer into public ownership as part of the government’s drive to build Great British Railways (GBR) its new national railways operator.
The transfer will pave the way for a package of improvements for Chiltern passengers…
- More services and seats: a new timetable from December will provide 25 extra services each weekday including half hourly service throughout the day on the Chiltern Mainline between London and Birmingham. This will provide almost 10,000 extra seats every weekday, nearly 5,000 on Saturdays and more than 3,000 on Sundays, helping to tackle overcrowding.
- New modern trains: 6 more state-of-the-art Chiltern Explorer trains will enter service as part of the December 2026 timetable, completing a fleet of 13. The new trains will increase capacity and provide improved accessibility, air conditioning and enhanced wifi for passengers between London and the West Midlands.
- Better trains: a £12 million refurbishment of Chiltern’s existing Class 168 fleet will continue, with upgraded wifi, power and USB charging at every seat and refreshed interiors by 2028.
- Cleaner, better stations: investment will improve stations across the network, including refurbished toilets, painting, deep cleaning and graffiti removal. At Haddenham and Thame Parkway, 200 previously closed car park spaces will be reopened, helping make it easier for passengers to access the station.
- Better information and easier journeys: new signage at 5 of Chiltern’s busiest stations will help the almost 20 million passengers a year who use the network get to their destinations, alongside upgraded customer information screens, help points and accessible ramps.
Also, from this Sunday, passengers whose train is cancelled will also be able to use another operator’s service at no extra cost.
The next operator’s services to transfer into public ownership will be Great Western Railway on 13 December 2026, ahead of completion of the full public ownership programme by the end of 2027.
