South West Trains passengers to benefit from £50m package of investment in new technology and more personal customer service

• 100 customer ambassadors to provide face-to-face proactive advice at stations
• New hi-tech ticket machines with direct video link to dedicated 24/7 customer contact centre
• Further investment in skills training and vocational qualifications for employees

PERTH, Scotland, 2015-8-28 — /Travel PR News/ — Passengers using South West Trains, one of Britain’s busiest rail networks, are to benefit from a £50m package of investment in new technology and more personal customer service to make end-to-end journeys easier. The improvements, which will be delivered as part of a programme of initiatives agreed with the Department for Transport, will also see more seats and extra car parking.

New customer ambassadors will deliver a more personalised service for customers by offering more face-to-face proactive advice at stations.   The 100 customer ambassadors will be located on station concourses to help with any customer queries and to offer expert advice to help passengers buy the right ticket to suit their needs. All customer ambassadors will be trained to NVQ Customer Service Level 2 and will have access to smart technology to help customers.

The introduction of customer ambassadors is just one of a range of customer improvements that South West Trains will be introducing before 2017.   The company has also pledged to roll out around 170 new easy-to-use ticket machines at stations across the network. More than half of the new ticket machines will provide a 24/7 video link allowing customers to talk directly to a member of staff at a new dedicated state-of-the-art video customer contact centre in Basingstoke. This is the biggest initiative of its kind in the country.

The new customer service initiatives, which involve consultation with trade unions, are expected to be introduced early next year. It is planned that as many of the new customer ambassador and customer contact centre roles as possible will be filled by existing South West Trains ticket office employees.

Arthur Pretorius, Customer Service Director for South West Trains, said: “We want to take a far more proactive approach to customer service and the way we interact with our customers. The changes we are planning will focus our resources and our technology into a new modern approach that really puts customers at the heart of our business and makes their end-to-end journeys easier and smoother.”

Other improvements for customers include 57,000 more seats for passengers, 1,400 extra car parking spaces, new website and mobile app, more fares promotions and a new online booking system.

Contact information

Emma Knight

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emma.knight@stagecoachgroup.com

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