South Western Railway (2017–2025)

First MTR South Western Trains Limited, trading as South Western Railway (SWR), is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup (70%) and MTR Corporation (30%) which operated the South Western franchise between August 2017 and May 2025.

On 20 August 2017, SWR took over South Western franchise operations from the previous franchisee South West Trains.

SWR operated commuter services from its Central London terminus at London Waterloo to south west London, suburban services in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Dorset, as well as regional services in Devon, Somerset and Wiltshire. Its subsidiary Island Line operated services on the Isle of Wight.

Rolling stock changes have included a comprehensive refurbishment of existing units and the acquisition of new-build Class 701 units from Bombardier to replace SWR's Class 455, and Class 707 multiple units. The Class 483 fleet operated on the Island Line was also replaced by the Class 484 during 2021.

During April 2018, amid concerns of SWR's performance, the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, announced an independent review into SWR and Network Rail. Between 2 December 2019 and 2 January 2020, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) undertook 27 days of strikes. Further industrial action by SWR's staff was undertaken in 2022. In response to the decrease in passenger travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, SWR had considerably curtailed its services by mid-2020. In January 2020, SWR announced that they were in discussions with the government regarding the future of the franchise. In December 2020, it was announced that SWR's franchise would be abolished and replaced by a shorter management contract. In February 2023, the contract was extended to May 2025. In December 2024, the government announced that SWR's contract would not be renewed in 2025, and on 25 May 2025, the service was renationalised.