On Sunday 31 May 2026, all GTR services (Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express) will transfer into public ownership under DfT Operator Ltd (DFTO).
For customers, services will continue to operate as normal:
- All tickets remain valid
- Timetables and routes are unchanged
- Railcards and Season tickets are unaffected
- Delay Repay and assisted travel arrangements remain the same
- Tickets can still be bought through the usual channels
This transfer will not affect existing conditions of travel or station facilities. All current tickets for journeys on our railway will remain valid.
For any questions relating to your journey, please get in touch with one of our customer service centres:
- Thameslink: 0345 026 4700
- Southern: 0345 127 2920
- Great Northern: 0345 026 4700
- Gatwick Express: 0345 850 1530
What this means for your journey
You can continue to travel as normal after the transfer to public ownership.
There are no planned changes to:
- Train services or routes
- Timetables
- Ticket validity
- Ticket purchasing
- Railcards or Season tickets
- Delay Repay compensation
- Assisted travel bookings
Tickets involving other train operators will continue to be accepted in the usual way, including journeys booked through third-party retailers such as Trainline. Travel vouchers and refunds will continue to be honoured until their expiry date. Ticket prices are not changing as a direct result of the transfer.
About the transfer
All passenger train services operating under Department for Transport (DfT) contracts will eventually transfer into public ownership as part of wider rail reform.
DfT Operator Ltd (DFTO), the Government’s rail owning group and delivery partner for the Government’s public ownership programme, is leading this transition ahead of the creation of Great British Railways (GBR). GBR will bring together train operators and rail infrastructure into a single organisation responsible for operating, maintaining and improving Britain’s railways. It will provide a whole-system approach to running the railway, helping make the best use of network capacity and delivering better outcomes for passengers and taxpayers.
We will continue investing DfT funding allocated on an annual basis, alongside external funding opportunities, to improve stations across our network. We also continue to work with Network Rail and the wider industry to improve reliability and performance across GTR-operated services.