Train services operated by South Western Railway (SWR), which includes the Weymouth to Waterloo line, could be taken into public ownership due to losses made by the franchise.

It comes as MPs in Westminster - led by West Dorset's representative Chris Loder - vowed to take a decisive role in improving the train service.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said SWR's financial statements indicate it is “not sustainable in the long term”.

Poor punctuality and reliability combined with slower revenue growth has led to the operator’s financial performance being “significantly below expectation” since it began in August 2017, according to Mr Shapps.

The franchise, owned by FirstGroup and MTR, made a pre-tax loss of £139 million in the year to March 2019.

SWR has “not yet failed to meet financial commitments” but the Department for Transport “must prepare suitable contingency measures”, Mr Shapps said in a written ministerial statement.

Potential options outlined by the minister include a new short-term contract for SWR’s owners or transferring the operation of trains to public sector body the Operator of Last Resort.

The OLR took over services on the east coast route in June 2018 under the London North Eastern Railway brand, following the failure of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise.

Mr Shapps said SWR will “continue to operate as usual with no material impact on SWR services or staff”.

He added: “Across the country, a number of franchises are failing to provide the reliable services that passengers require and there are legitimate questions on whether the current franchising model is viable."

Meanwhile, MP Chris Loder and others, below, have established the first All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for SWR, a move they say will hold the business to account.

Dorset Echo:

The group will examine the entire railway business, including franchisees, and the role that the DfT, Network Rail, other industry businesses and transport authorities play to deliver the train service on the railway that operates in and out of London Waterloo.

Scrutiny will extend to the geographical area from London Waterloo to Portsmouth, Weymouth, Exeter, Bristol and Reading, as well as the network and connecting lines within these points.

At the meeting in Westminster yesterday, chaired by former rail manger Mr Loder, the group agreed five objectives for the network:

* Capacity: Timetable, frequency, capacity, journey time, train and bus connections and service availability. Objective: adequate rail capacity that meets demand

* Future: Investment, strategy, industry structure, Route Study, franchise sustainability, franchise mapping and infrastructure enhancements. Objective: future investment and organisation delivers the service that constituents require and expect

* Passenger Service: Comfort, provision of information, accessibility, station services provision, WiFi provision, recompense, refreshments, quality of train refurbishment. Objective: passenger experience meets expectations

* Performance: Operating Performance, service delivery, train service contingencies and resources. Objective: reliable and punctual train services delivered for passengers

* Value: Taxpayer value for money, delivery of franchise obligations, Network Rail use of its Government funding. Objective: achieving value for money for passenger and taxpayer

Mr Loder said: “Our train service has been in decline for several years now and we need to take decisive action to ensure we hold rail businesses to account for our constituents and we are now doing just that”.

Industrial action

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union on SWR have staged a series of strikes stretching back more than two years in a dispute over guards on trains, which has caused travel misery for passengers.

The latest strikes lasted throughout December and into New Year’s Day, leading to cancellations and delays.

The RMT has recently launched a fresh ballot of members on continuing industrial action.

Mr Shapps claimed the strikes are “not about safety, accessibility or helping passengers” and insisted that “driver-controlled trains are perfectly safe”.

He added: “These trains allow the guards to devote much more time to looking after passengers.”

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “This Government is acting like a puppet for the rail companies, throwing good public money after bad and trying to breathe life into the rotting corpse of privatised rail.

“Instead of dreaming up new ways to subsidise private sector profits by attacking civil liberties, he (Grant Shapps) should stop pushing cost-cutting driver-only operation and bring SWR into public ownership, running it in the interests of passengers and workers, not his mates in the City.”