Great Western Railway (GWR) services will be nationalised from 13 December, the Department for Transport (DfT) has announced. It will be the 11th operator with a Government contract to be taken into public ownership. GWR connects Paddington in west London with south and south-west England and south Wales. The three remaining operators in private ownership will be Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry and East Midlands Railway. A DfT spokesperson said: “This is another significant moment for the Government’s flagship public ownership programme and brings a simpler, more reliable network under Great British Railways a step closer. “The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring services back into public ownership and put passengers, not shareholders, at the heart of our railways.” A GWR train at Bristol Temple Meads (Simon Calder) Ministers earlier said that their plans for the publicly owned Great British Railways aim to deliver better value.…