LONDON - Britain has officially brought one of its major regional rail networks, South Western Railway (SWR), back into public ownership, marking the first major move in its plan to renationalize the rail system.

British Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander launched the first publicly operated SWR train from London Waterloo on Sunday, describing the transition as "a new dawn" for British rail.

"This is a turning point," Alexander said. "We are leaving behind decades of fragmentation and poor performance, and building a railway that serves the public rather than private shareholders."

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SWR, which connects London with major southern cities such as Reading, Portsmouth, Bournemouth, and Exeter, became the first network to be nationalized under the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024, which was passed shortly after the general election.

Under the new plan, all passenger services currently operating under contracts with the Transport Department will gradually return to public control by 2027 and be integrated into a new national body, Great British Railways, which will manage both operations and infrastructure.

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The government expects to save up to 150 million pounds (about $203.1 million) a year, which will be reinvested in service reliability, capacity and passenger experience.

Despite the symbolic significance of Sunday's launch, the first scheduled SWR service under public control, the 05:36 from the British town of Woking, was replaced by a rail replacement bus due to engineering works, local media reported.