Shambles as Labour's Great British Railways' maiden trip to be a replacement bus

One of the UK's major railway operators will become the first company to be renationalised under the Labour government this week - but planned engineering works could dampen the celebrations. South Western Railway's (SWR) first planned service under its transition into Great British Railways appears to have been cancelled due to a repair project on the line, with travellers directed to a bus replacement service instead. The will come into effect at 1:59am on Sunday, May 25, with the first scheduled train of the morning the 2:27am service from Guildford to Waterloo.

Early-rising passengers hoping to mark the occasion by jumping onboard the operator's maiden journey have been met with a message that the departure has been cancelled, with a rail replacement bus on-hand instead. Tickets for the SWR's next train, scheduled to depart from Woking at 5:36am, are still on sale, but travellers have been warned that the journey could also be impacted by engineering works.

While not necessarily surprising given the disruption commonplace for commuters across the UK's train network, the cancellations have cast something of a shadow over Labour's triumphant re-nationalisation project.

The Government has pledged to eventually bring all of Britain's train operators under public ownership, with C2C set to be nationalised in July and Greater Anglia to follow suit in October.

South Western Railways, which provides services to and from London Waterloo, will initially come under the control of a Department for Transport subsidiary before being transferred into Great British Railways - which will then oversee infrastructure issues as well as passenger services.

Announcing the news, transport secretary Heidi Alexander described South Western Railways' transition as "a watershed moment in the government's plan to return the railways to the service of passengers".

She said the change would "end 30 years of fragmentation and deliver on our manifesto commitment to bring passenger services back into public control".

"Public ownership with ensure services are run in the interest of passengers, not shareholders, and is a vital step in enabling the government to bring track and train together," Ms Alexander added.

Labour's long-term plan is to run all British trains under Great British Railway branding, with the nationally-owned firm responsible for infrastructure and passenger services. However, the trains will need to "earn the right to be called Great British Railways", according to reports, by meeting unspecified standards that could include fewer delays and cancellations.

Data published in March , with up to 22% of services cancelled at the worst-performing stations in the month to February 1.