South Western Railway: MP hits out at railway service - and says commuters 'get a worse deal than before'
“The trend is very clear: South Western Railway’s peformance is worsening.”
An MP has pulled zero punches after airing her thoughts on a “worsening” train service.
Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage has sent a letter to the managing director of South Western Railway (SWR), voicing concerns about the performance of the service. It comes after SWR was re-nationalised in May last year.
Over that past year, more than a third of journeys did not arrive on time and the number of cancellations increased by 6 per cent, Ms Dinenage pointed out.
In her letter, she said: “It was ironic that the first service of the re-nationalised service was a rail replacement bus, but poor performance has sadly continued since then. The trend is very clear: South Western Railway’s peformance is worsening.
“As a commuter, I have been frustrated by cancellations, delays, the slow roll-out of new stock and the terrible wi-fi connection on board. I am concerned about the early results of nationalisation. How is South Western Railway reversing the consistent trend over the last five years of more delays, more cancellations, and more delay minutes arising as a result of South Western Railway’s own operations?”
In a press release sent to The News, with the letter attached, Ms Dinenage added: “I’ve experienced a noticeable deterioration in the passenger experience on South Western Railway trains. Whether it’s delays, cancellations, or poor Wifi and cramped conditions, I am losing confidence in the service.
“Nationalisation was heralded as a turning point for our railways, but on the current performance trajectory it looks like passengers are going to get a worse deal than before.”
A spokesperson for SWR said: “The reliability of our services is not where we want it to be and has been undermined by a series of specific challenges in the past year. It will take time to unpick the challenges we’ve inherited, but we have a clear plan in place to upgrade our infrastructure, recruit more drivers and refresh our timetable, which, alongside our new fleet of trains, will deliver a more reliable railway for our customers.
“Specifically in the Portsmouth area, we've begun a two year programme of upgrades between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour to reduce signalling-related delays and make journeys more reliable. This follows the completion of the £129m Farncombe to Petersfield signalling upgrade and ongoing £120m programme of essential improvements in the Havant area, representing significant long-term investment in the Portsmouth Direct Line.
“We have also invested heavily in our onboard connectivity. Our Wi-Fi service was recently recognised by Ofcom as one of the best in the industry, following upgrades including superfast rail-5G Wi-Fi which offers speeds up to 20 times faster than traditional network connections and a recent satellite-powered Wi-Fi trial between London Waterloo, Portsmouth and Weymouth which helped deliver 97 per cent coverage.”