South West Trains – Reading to Waterloo

I had a meeting today with the new Franchise team for South West trains who take over in August 20th.

I stressed to them the need for improved punctuality and reliability in the service. They assured me they had a number of planned actions to raise service levels including staff rostering, and more reliable trains.

They told me the introduction of extra trains as promised to give us 4 trains an hour to London from Wokingham will not be before December 2018. They plan replacement and renewal of existing coaches.

I raised with them the desirability of bidding for digital signalling to allow more trains per hour to use the track. They said they were working on this possibility.