- Millions of pounds of enhancements announced as part of new agreement with the Department for Transport
- Introduction of smart ticketing across the network and 170 new easy-to-use ticket machines
- More than 57,000 additional seats and 73 new services
- 1,400 additional parking spaces at stations across the network
PERTH, Scotland, 2015-3-25 — /Travel PR News/ — Rail passengers on South West Trains, the UK’s busiest commuter network, will benefit from a £50 million package of improvements under an amendment to the current South West Trains franchise agreement between Stagecoach Group and the Department for Transport.
The agreement means millions of pounds worth of passenger improvement initiatives will be introduced between now and February 2017. Passengers will not have to wait for a new franchise to benefit from these initiatives and taxpayers will gain better value from public investment.
Planned improvements to include:
More space for passengers
- More than 57,000 additional seats will be created through the introduction of 73 new evening and weekend services on suburban and mainline routes and through additional seating on existing services
- Additional 1,400 parking spaces will be created at up to eight of some of the busiest car parks across the network by the end of 2017. The first station to benefit will be Andover which will be completed by early January 2016
Improved technology and better ticketing
- New website and mobile app will make buying the best value tickets easier
- A new online booking system and an expansion of our smart ticketing programme will allow joined up journeys with London’s bus and Tube network. Working closely with Transport for London (TfL) South West Trains is testing its Smart Card on the Oyster infrastructure. Some 15,000 smart cards have been issued to staff and their families for testing and a customer pilot is planned for this autumn when passengers renewing their annual season tickets on the Portsmouth direct line (travelling from any station between Rowlands Castle and Farncombe inclusive to London Terminals or London Travel Card Zone) will be contacted and offered the opportunity to be part of a customer smart ticketing pilot for travel into and around London
Enhanced customer service
- New Customer and Stakeholder Engagement Strategy including introduction of mystery shoppers, online customer service satisfaction surveys, further investment in community engagement schemes and NVQ qualifications in customer service for employees
- Some 170 new easy-to-use ticket machines, including 90 with a facility for customers to ask for help via a video link, will help passengers get the best value fare for their journey
- More visible staff on station concourses to help passengers face to face
- More fare promotions and marketing campaigns will enable passengers to get access to the best value fares available
Chief Executive of the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, Tim Shoveller said, “These exciting changes will deliver the biggest package of customer focused benefits for years. As well as the expansion of our smart ticketing scheme we are also introducing more staff to our concourses so that they are able to help passengers, face to face.
“We’re also creating hundreds of new parking spaces across the network and introducing more than 57,000 additional seats and 73 new services on suburban and mainline routes across the network.”
Rail Minister Claire Perry said: “As we spend record amounts on modernising our railways as part of our long term economic plan, our franchising programme is also unlocking considerable investment from train operators.
“This package of improvements from South West Trains, with its strong focus on customer service, is very welcome and will make a huge difference to passengers on the many busy routes served by this franchise.”
These new benefits follow a number of enhancements already underway to deliver a better service to South West Trains passengers. These include:
- the roll-out of a £65m investment in 108 refurbished train carriages for the network
- plans for a £210m fleet of 30 new five-carriage trains
- collectively, these two projects will deliver a total peak-time capacity increase of around 30% by 2018
- major infrastructure improvements at London Waterloo to accommodate the new trains
- bringing the remaining four platforms of the former Waterloo International Terminal back into full use and then extending London Waterloo Platforms 1-4 to accommodate longer 10-carriage trains
- a £7m upgrade to the railway through Wimbledon, improving reliability and punctuality for hundreds of thousands of passengers
The current South West Trains franchise will end in February 2017. The DfT and South West Trains are seeking to negotiate an extension to April 2019 of South West Trains operation of the franchise.
Stagecoach has operated the South West Trains franchise since 1996, doubling the number of passengers using its services and driving forward a number of innovations to help customers. It has delivered a more joined up railway, improving integration between track and trains.
In 2006, South West Trains became the first train operator in the UK to launch a fully integrated operational control centre. It brought train operating staff and Network Rail employees responsible for track and signalling together under one roof. Since 2012, a single management team has been responsible for managing both track and trains under the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, with the ground-breaking partnership extended in April 2014.
South West Trains operates around 1,600 trains a day on a network in the South and South West of England, serving more than 200 stations and employing around 4,500 people. The network includes routes through Hampshire, Surrey, Dorset, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Devon, Somerset, and Greater London, serving a mixture of commuters and longer-distance travellers.
ENDS
For further information, please contact South West Trains on 01738 442111. Out of office hours: An on-call service operates for urgent media enquiries out of hours. To access this service, please call 08448 222888 and quote MEDIA1. Please leave a short message, including your name, media organisation, phone number and the nature of your enquiry. The on call press officer will then return your call.
NOTES TO EDITORS
57,000 seats include trains that are extended from their current destination station and those which are diverted from their current route.
Changes to services include:
Basingstoke
- Two additional trains per hour between Basingstoke and Waterloo on Sunday afternoons (one from Salisbury and one from Portsmouth via Eastleigh)
- Over 4000 additional seats between Basingstoke and London on Sunday afternoons
West of England
- Half hourly service from Salisbury to London on Sunday afternoons
- New hourly express trains on Sunday early evenings from London Waterloo to Salisbury calling only at Clapham Junction with journey times of 1hr10m
- 1000 extra seats on the West of England line on Sunday afternoons between Salisbury and London
Poole/Bournemouth
- 10 minute faster journey times between Poole, Bournemouth, Southampton and London on Sunday afternoons
- Over 1600 additional seats between Poole, Bournemouth, Southampton and London on Sunday afternoons
- New early morning train from Southampton to London at 05:20 and 0703 from Waterloo on weekdays
Suburban
- Half-hourly service on the Hounslow loop on Sunday afternoons
- Half hourly connections through to Hampton Court until the end of service Monday to Saturday
About the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance
- The South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance was formed on 29 April 2012 with the aim of delivering an improved service for passengers with faster, more customer-focused decision-making. It is also a step towards delivering a more efficient and cost effective railway for the long term.
- A single joint management team now look after train services and infrastructure across the South West Trains / Wessex route.
- The Alliance is the first of its kind in the UK.
- Train services operated by the Alliance are some of the busiest commuter train services in the UK. Over 2,000 passenger and freight services run on the network every day and the route covers 643 miles of track, with 1375 sets of points and 4394 signals.
About Stagecoach Group
- Stagecoach Group is a leading international public transport group, with extensive operations in the UK, mainland Europe, the United States and Canada. The Group employs around 38,000 people, and operates bus, coach, train, and tram services.
- Stagecoach is one of the UK’s biggest bus and coach operators with around 8,300 buses and coaches. Around 2.8 million passenger journeys are made on Stagecoach’s buses every day on a network stretching from south-west England to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Group’s business includes major city bus operations in London, Liverpool, Newcastle, Hull, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Cambridge. Low-cost coach service, megabus.com, operates a network of inter-city services across the UK and continental Europe.
- Stagecoach is a major UK rail operator, running the South West Trains, Island Line and East Midlands Trains networks. It is also the majority shareholder (90%) in the new Virgin Trains East Coast franchise and has a 49% shareholding in Virgin Rail Group, which operates the West Coast rail franchise.
- Stagecoach also operates the Supertram light rail network in Sheffield.
- In North America, Stagecoach operates around 2,400 buses and coaches in the United States and Canada. Megabus.com links around 130 key locations in North America. Stagecoach is also involved in operating commuter, transit, contracted, charter, sightseeing and airport scheduled services.
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