WEYMOUTH-Waterloo operator South Western Railway could be next in the firing line after the government revealed plans to renationalise services on the east coast main line.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is said to be under pressure to act over other struggling rail operators – including SWR – after it was announced that Virgin Trains East Coast would be stripped of its franchise after the operator lost £200 million since 2015.

The service will be brought back under government control for up to two years and then run by a public-private partnership.

The move has strengthened calls for public ownership to be extended to the entire rail network.

As reported, ministers have launched a formal review into SWR's operation following a spate of poor performance and there is speculation this franchise could be in trouble.

The operation previously run by South West Trains (Stagecoach) was awarded last year to First MTR, a joint venture between First Group and Hong Kong-based MTR.

First MTR pledged to invest £1.2bn over seven years and improve services.

But it has been blighted by poor performance, including more cancellations and late trains, since it took over last August – which prompted Mr Grayling to commission a review into failings.

Speaking last month he said while many of the delays were due to Network Rail and there had been good progress recently, "overall performance has simply not been good enough".

He said: "I am determined that we see a long-term, sustained performance improvement across this route."

Speculation about the franchise comes after disruption on the network which saw the line closed between Weymouth and Wareham for two days this week due to a broken down engineering train.

More engineering works will close the line again this weekend.

The disruption is the fault of Network Rail but passenger confidence in the service was hit, as the Echo found when talking to travellers.

SWR said it had a contract with the government and would continue working towards that.

THE Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the rail industry, said franchises including SWR were continuing to meet their commitments, so suggestion of extending nationalisation was just speculation.

Paul Plummer, Chief Executive of the RDG said: “The private sector in rail, including Stagecoach Virgin on the East Coast route, has brought significant benefits but we have already been making the case to government for reform. There is an opportunity to reform the franchising system for the long-term so it can deliver more for customers, communities, taxpayers and the economy.”

Regarding franchising over the last 20 years, the RDG says the network is:

* One of the safest railways in Europe

* Most satisfied customers for a major railway in Europe

* No day-to-day taxpayer subsidy – from a £2bn loss to a £200m surplus

* More services – up by over a quarter (28%)

* More jobs – train companies employ 47 per cent more people than in 1997/98

* Of the 48 franchises let to date, only four have ended early (three on East Coast)

South Dorset MP Richard Drax said people had a rather ‘skew-eyed’ view of nationalisation and ‘forgot what the railways were like’ before privatisation.

He added: “I’ve no problem with private companies running the railways but I wonder why the government must charge them huge amounts of money.

“If we’re going to ask companies to risk investing in the railways I would have thought one way to help would be to reduce the government’s take.”

Mr Drax said he ‘didn’t have the evidence in front of him’ to decide whether South Western Railway was performing badly.

He said it had not been operating for very long and that not all of the delays were the fault of the operator.