RAIL union Aslef has welcomed Chiltern Railways becoming the 10th and latest rail firm to be brought back into public ownership.

After 30 years in the hands of privateers, the firm moved to the government’s programme of public ownership, Great British Railways (GBR), yesterday.

The Department for Transport said that the transfer into public ownership would tackle overcrowding by introducing 25 extra daily services from December.

This includes half-hourly services during weekdays on the Chiltern main line between London and Birmingham, as well as more services at the weekends.

A spokesman for the train drivers’ union said: “We welcome another passenger company being brought back into public ownership today. 

“[Former Tory PM] John Major’s privatisation was ideologically driven, utterly misguided and a palpable failure. 

“The franchise system never worked and money which could have been used to invest in our rail infrastructure and reduce fares for passengers haemorrhaged from the network in private profits and shareholders’ dividends. 

“The railway is a vital public service and now, under this Labour government, which is delivering on its manifesto commitment, we are seeing the wheels and the steel brought back together where they belong: in the public sector.”

Britain’s largest train operator Govia Thameslink Railway as well as c2c, Greater Anglia, South Western Railway and West Midlands Trains have previously been brought into public ownership by the government.

Great Western Railways’ services will follow on December 13.

LNER, Northern, Southeastern and TransPennine Express were already nationalised when Labour came to power.

GBR will be a new public-sector body bringing responsibility for tracks and trains under a single organisation for the first time since privatisation in the mid-1990s, with legislation to create it included in the recent King’s Speech.

Chiltern runs services from London Marylebone to Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire as well as destinations in the west Midlands.

Rail Minister Lord Hendy said: “Every transfer into public ownership gives us the chance to tackle the bread-and-butter issues people care about: more frequent, comfortable trains that turn up on time.

“As we set up GBR, we’re putting passengers first.

“It will not happen overnight, but we will build a railway the country can trust and rely on and that will create growth, jobs and homes.”