| Info | |||
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| Franchise(s): | South Western February 1996 – February 2003 February 2003 – February 2007 February 2007 – February 2017 |
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| Main region(s): | Greater London, Hampshire, Surrey & Dorset | ||
| Other region(s): | Berkshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Devon | ||
| Fleet size: | 337 (343 including Island Line) 11 Class 158 Express Sprinter sets 30 Class 159 South Western Turbo sets 45 Class 444 Desiro sets 127 Class 450 Desiro sets 91 Class 455 sets 30 Class 458 Juniper sets 1 Class 73 Rescue electro-diesel locomotive (6 Class 483 - Island line sets) |
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| Stations called at: | 213 (177 operated) | ||
| National Rail abbreviation: | SW | ||
| Parent company: | Stagecoach Group | ||
| Web site: | www.southwesttrains.co.uk | ||
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South West Trains (SWT) is a British train operating company providing, under franchise, passenger rail services, mostly out of Waterloo station, to the southwest of London in the suburbs and in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire, and Wiltshire and on the Isle of Wight. The area of operation, essentially the former South Western division of Network SouthEast, is also roughly that in 1923 of the pre-grouping London and South Western Railway. The Stagecoach Group took over the franchise on the privatisation of British Rail in 1996 and retained it against stiff competition in 2007 making it, with Chiltern Railways and Virgin West Coast, one of the three longest-running franchises. It is the largest passenger franchise in the UK[1] and is a particularly complex operation due to the large number and variety of services.
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In the early days of its franchise SWT gained notoriety for severe service cuts due to driver shortages[2] but later made significant improvements to the network, including replacing much of the rolling stock, refurbishing stations, making stations accessible to disabled passengers, and improving customer information. During the early 2000s, improvements included the introduction of new rail services and the reopening of Chandler's Ford station in Hampshire.
On 12 December 2004 the company completely recast its timetable, for the first time since 1967, in an attempt to bring service provision into line with changing demand and to take into account the different characteristics of modern rolling stock, with the intention that this would improve reliability and punctuality across the network.
A smoking ban on all SWT services was introduced from May 2004, partly in response to a fire caused by a cigarette left near a heater under a seat, and also pre-empting the public smoking ban that would be introduced two years later.[3]
The South West Trains franchise was initially renewed for four years from February 2003. Then, on 22 September 2006, Stagecoach Group won the right to operate the newly-enlarged South Western franchise for a further ten years, until 2017.[4] Competing bids for the franchise had been made by Arriva, First Group and a partnership between MTR Corporation and GNER.[5]
This enlarged franchise started on 4 February 2007 and incorporated the formerly independent Island Line on the Isle of Wight. The legal name of the company has also changed from South West Trains Ltd to Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd, but the trading name has remained unchanged.
Most SWT services are on electrified lines using the 750 V DC third-rail system. There is a small diesel fleet for services on the West of England line to Exeter and Bristol, which is unelectrified beyond Basingstoke. SWT operates almost 1,700 trains per day. The intense service and past chronic under-investment led to many delays, but performance has improved in part due to a completely restructured timetable from December 2004, and the commissioning of a unified Network Rail and SWT control centre at Waterloo which improves communication between the two organisations.
From Waterloo, SWT's London terminus, long-distance trains run to southern England, including the major coastal population centres of Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole and Weymouth; the company also operates many local services on suburban commuter lines in south-west London and Surrey. There are also trains to Reading, Exeter and Bristol, but these are not the principal fast services from London to those cities, which are operated from London Paddington by First Great Western.
As with most rail companies, non-folding bicycles are banned from peak-time trains to and from London Waterloo. However, these restrictions[6] apply only to cyclists boarding or alighting in the area bounded by Hook, Alton, Guildford, Reading and Dorking. The policy is designed to maximise available passenger space on the most crowded trains.
South West Trains off-peak Monday to Saturday routes, with numbers of trains per hour, include:
The six main lines operated by SWT are:
Suburban services diverge from the above routes. Taken in order westwards from Waterloo, travelling down the SWML, they are:
Travelcards are available for journeys into London. They are valid on London buses, Tramlink, Docklands Light Railway, London Underground and national rail services within the London travelcard area.
Season tickets and travelcards are also available to cover multi-day regular journeys. They are available in weekly, monthly and annual periods.
In May 2007, South West Trains introduced a new fare structure for all routes. The original peak prices and times were retained, with "Off-Peak" being redefined at a higher fare for services leaving after 11am for stations closer to London or arriving in Waterloo at or before mid-day for stations further away from London. Services after this period are now referred to as "Super Off-Peak" and attract similar prices to the old Off-Peak tickets.[7]
In January 2008 SWT fares increased on average by 4.3%.[8]
In 2009, ticket gates were installed at Waterloo Station in order to improve revenue protection.
The smartcard scheme for season tickets on the national rail system was extended from spring 2010 to cover the lines from Weymouth to Basingstoke, Staines to Wokingham and the Isle of Wight in addition to the current trial area between Staines and Windsor. It was also announced that SWT proposes to reduce the operating hours at 24 of its ticket offices.[9]
In May 2010 posters started to appear at stations advertising that the extended smartcard scheme is now available for stations between Weymouth and Basingstoke. The smart cards which South West Trains is using are branded StagecoachSmart in common with those being introduced on Stagecoach buses in Cambridgeshire and which Stagecoach plans to provide across its rail and bus operations.
Oyster card pay as you go is now available on all South West Trains routes within the Greater London area.[10] Oyster card travelcards and season tickets have always been valid within the London travelcard area, the same way as normal paper travelcards and season tickets.
In November 2010 the Department for Transport announced an agreement between government and SWT that passengers will be able to top up Pay-as-You-Go Oyster cards at all stations operated by South West Trains in the London Travelcard area from May 2011. SWT was the last rail company franchise not to offer this facility (except at Wimbledon and Richmond stations) for passengers using suburban rail services within the London travelcard area.[11]
South West Trains currently issues penalty fares for passengers travelling by train without a valid ticket. However, the company has planned to install at least one self-service ticket machine at each of its served stations in the bid to stop fare evasion.
The penalty fare is either £20 or double the travelled fare, whichever is greater. This does not apply at Chandler's Ford, the stations west of Salisbury (e.g. Dorchester South, Axminster), or Wraysbury on the Windsor line due to a lack of ticket machines available at those stations. Revenue Protection Officers employed by SWT travel the network and are visible at stations to enforce penalty fares and issue some tickets; aside from station ticket barriers and permit-to-travel machines, CCTV is used to combat ticketless travel and prevent assaults on members of staff and customers.
From August 2007, South West Trains has reinforced the penalty fares policy with announcements at stations prompting travellers to buy tickets before boarding. This clamp-down has been criticised due to the lack of "self-service" ticketing machines and the long queues at booking offices due to a lack of staff, which impedes the ability to buy tickets.
South West Trains does not issue platform tickets. Entry to parts of SWT station concourses beyond the ticket barrier for passengers without valid tickets for travel is at the company's discretion.
The South West Trains network has changed considerably since privatisation in 1996. It no longer includes West Croydon, Sutton, stations between Chichester and Brighton, or the mainline portion of Reading. South West Trains does now serve stations to Bristol, Mottisfont and Dunbridge and Dean. However, services beyond Exeter to stations such as Newton Abbot, Paignton and Plymouth ceased from December 2009.
Stagecoach, SWT's parent company, currently sells seats on some off-peak services under the Megatrain brand from Mondays to Saturdays. This uses a similar low-cost model to its Megabus service. Megatrain tickets are generally available on services that are expected to be lightly loaded. The tickets available are generally between London Waterloo and other principal stations, and ticket holders are assigned to a specific carriage (normally the second from the front) in the train.
Latest performance figures released by the ORR as of the fourth quarter of the 2010/11 financial year were 92.9% (PPM) and 93.7% (MAA).[12]
In the early days of the franchise, South West Trains operated rolling stock inherited from British Rail. It applied its brand to the trains by modifying the Network SouthEast livery with an orange stripe, taking advantage of the similarity between the Network SouthEast livery and that of parent company Stagecoach.
The company later introduced new or refurbished trains, and has standardised on a set of three distinct liveries - mainly white for long-distance services, mainly blue for outer-suburban services, and mainly red for London commuter rail services. There are exceptions to this: most notably, the trains operating suburban rail services to Hounslow, Windsor and Weybridge via Staines are in the blue livery as opposed to the red livery used on other services.
On the Island Line, the clearances of a tunnel under Ryde are insufficient for standard trains. As a consequence, former London Underground rolling stock has been used since the line was electrified. Since 1992, Class 483 trains have been used, of which five 2-car units remain in service. They date from 1938. SWT took on this fleet when it was awarded the combined South West/Island Line franchise in 2007 (though Island Line as a separate franchise was also previously operated by a separate Stagecoach- owned company).
The introduction of Desiro rolling stock built by Siemens was to replace the old Class 423 slam-door trains which were coming to the end of their useful lives, and which did not meet modern health and safety requirements. The introduction was delayed because of the additional power needs of this type of stock: Network Rail spent £1 billion upgrading the power supply to take account of this.
The new trains have on-board information systems and full air-conditioning. Their faster acceleration is counterbalanced by the need to dwell longer at each station, since they have fewer doors. In addition, the Desiros have many more components: all are computerised and subject to the possibility of breakdowns. It is estimated that the slam-door trains could achieve 60,000 miles (96,000 km) without breakdown; the Desiros an estimated 13,000 miles (20,800 km) but this is gradually improving.
The Desiro stock comes in two variants - Class 450 units which have four 20 m cars and are mainly used on suburban and outer-suburban services, and Class 444 units which have five 23 m cars as well as intercity-style door layouts and are used on longer-distance services to Weymouth.
South West Trains operates a fleet of Class 455 metro-style commuter trains. These were built for British Rail.[13]
A full refurbishment program started in 2004 on the fleet of 91 four-car units and was completed in March 2008.[14] Modifications included a new 2+2 seating layout with high-back seats, CCTV, cycle storage, wheelchair space, doors that open further to allow for faster alighting, and additional passenger information systems. All units are now painted in a new red "Metro" version of the SWT livery.
Thirty of these four-car units were ordered by South West Trains in 1998, to create extra capacity and to replace some of the ageing 4Cep units, which at the time were on short-term lease. Deliveries of these units began in 1998.
The class suffered major technical problems, so in the event none of the older units was withdrawn from service. It was six more years, in 2004, before the full fleet was in service. In 2003 and 2004, reliability was so poor that, although they were only six years old, South West Trains decided that the units should be replaced by 2005 with the newer Class 450 Desiro units.[15] Only a handful of units is required each day to help maintain services from Waterloo to Reading, and these had been expected to cease after 31 July 2006, when the lease with the rolling stock company expired. An application by SWT to extend this by six months was refused, as the class does not meet all the requirements of disability legislation.
However, later it was decided that, on or before the start of the new franchise in February 2007, the class would be reinstated and take over all operations on the Waterloo to Reading line, indirectly covering the loss of the Class 442s. They have been fitted with new, larger destination screens that comply with the disability legislation, but the trains still fall foul in some other areas, such as the height of the door open buttons. It is believed that a small exemption is being made for the Class 458s in those respects.
In December 2011 South West Trains announced that as part of a programme intended to increase capacity on their network the class 458 trains will be lengthened from 4 to 5 cars through the introduction of additional carriages from the mechanically similar former Gatwick Express Class 460 fleet. The first modified units are expected to enter service by May 2013 with the complete fleet in service by July 2014.[16]
South West Trains currently has 30 three-car Class 159s (22 159/0s and 8 159/1s) and 11 two-car Class 158s.
The 159/1s were converted at Wabtec Doncaster from Class 158s, received from TransPennine Express in exchange for Class 170s, to expand the current fleet. 11 further two-car 158s were received from TransPennine Express, which were refurbished and renumbered. All SWT 159/0s are currently being refurbished at Wabtec Doncaster to look like the newly received and refurbished class members. They will however retain their more powerful engines.
Two ex-SWT 158s, 786 and 789, have been allocated to First ScotRail and are currently based at Edinburgh Haymarket DMUD.
Although South West Trains does not operate locomotive-hauled services, up until 2009 it maintained three Class 73 locomotives for "Thunderbird" (recovery) duties. Locomotive 73109 had been in service with SWT since the start of the franchise, while the other two, 73201 and 73235, were acquired from Gatwick Express in 2005. 73235 is now the only one of the three locomotives to be owned by South West Trains.
| Class | Image | Type | Number | Withdrawn | Notes |
| Class 170 Turbostar | Diesel multiple unit | 9 | July 2007 | Transferred to First TransPennine Express | |
| Class 411 (4Cep) | Electric multiple unit | 29 | May 2005 | Some Preserved | |
| Class 412 (4Bep) | Electric multiple unit | 7 | May 2005 | Some Preserved | |
| Class 421 (4Cig) | Electric multiple unit | 32 | May 2005 | Two were retained for heritage operations on the Lymington Branch Line, now 3Cig units. Most of the remainder preserved due to historic significance. Very few have been scrapped. | |
| Class 421 (3Cig) | Electric multiple unit | 2 | May 2010 | 1497 preserved to the Mid Norfolk Railway 1498 preserved by the Epping Ongar Railway. |
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| Class 423 (4Vep) | Electric multiple unit | 66 | May 2005 | Some preserved | |
| Class 442 (5Wes) Wessex Electric | Electric multiple unit | 24 | February 2007 | Withdrawn. Now operating Gatwick Express/Southern services | |
| Class 960 | Diesel multiple unit | 1 | March 2009 | Preserved on Swanage Railway |
These units (Class 442) were initially dedicated to the Weymouth line but, through the 1990s, began to be diagrammed on the London to Portsmouth direct line. In preparation for the Class 444 and Class 450 "Desiro" units taking over from the slam-door fleet, the Wessex Electrics were withdrawn from Portsmouth line services and were again wholly dedicated to the Weymouth line.
South West Trains announced that it would be withdrawing these units, and the last operated SWT service was on 3 February 2007. This move also coincided with SWT reinstating all Class 458s for the Waterloo-Reading line. As a result, the Class 444s inherited the Waterloo - Weymouth route and the Class 450s took over some of the Portsmouth Harbour services, while the 442s went into storage at Eastleigh. In 2008, Southern went onto lease these trains for their Gatwick Express service, and are now operating services from London Victoria to Gatwick Airport and Brighton.[17]
In 2000, South West Trains acquired a fleet of eight newly-built 2-car Class 170/3 units, to supplement its existing Class 159 fleet. Units were deployed on London Waterloo to Salisbury as well as a new Southampton local train, and Reading to Basingstoke trains. They were sometimes pressed into use on Exeter services, but as they are not fitted with end gangways for catering or selective door opening for the short platforms at some stations, this was not a regular route.
From late 2006 to mid-2007, the Class 170s were gradually transferred to TransPennine Express in exchange for a larger number of Class 158 units, to expand and standardise the fleet. One Class 170, 170392, which was originally built to Southern specification, but taken over by SWT soon after its construction, has returned to Southern and converted to a Class 171 unit.
The final slam-door train on regular passenger services ran from London Waterloo to Bournemouth on 26 May 2005 with units 1396, 3536 and 1398. Some slam-door units have been preserved on heritage railways and three were retained by SWT for operations on the Lymington Branch Line and for special duties.
Services on the Lymington branch were operated as a "heritage" operation using one of two refurbished 3Cig units, nos. 1497 and 1498. The two units were repainted in their original liveries, one in classic Southern Region green and the other in British Rail blue and grey, and went into service on 12 May 2005. Following the May 2010 timetable change, these have now been replaced on the Lymington branch by Class 158 units during the week and Class 450 units at the weekend.[18]
Of the Classes 411, 412, 421 and 423 slam-door trains, several former SWT units have been preserved.
In contrast, just two former Southern units have been preserved - one Class 421 and one Class 423. No complete units from South Eastern Trains have been preserved.
Diagrams of operational trains
Wimbledon Traincare depot is one of Europe's most advanced train servicing complexes. It is located between Wimbledon and Earlsfield stations, on the main line to Waterloo, and is, coincidentally, situated next to South West Trains' other iconic landmark, the Wimbledon Train Viaduct.
Bournemouth train care depot is southwest of Bournemouth railway station, occupying the approach to the former Bournemouth West Station. Up until their withdrawal in February 2007, the depot was home to the Class 442 (5Wes) Wessex Electrics. The branch turns off at Branksome railway station and trains can be seen stopping at platform 2 and reversing into the depot.
Northam train care depot is south of St Denys railway station and is also next to Southampton FC's stadium at St Mary's. This newer traincare depot was constructed to perform maintenance on the new Desiro stock, which can now be found at the works.
Salisbury depot provides servicing for South West Trains' diesel fleet.
Fratton is now more of a stabling point than a depot - it has no trains allocated as their "home" depot.
The carriage washer is still in place (and in use), as is the fuelling point (for First Great Western and the few diesel services that still serve Portsea Island).
Quite a few class 444 and 450 units berth overnight there (and a few 15x DMUs), and there are stabling sidings and bay platforms at Portsmouth & Southsea station.
Farnham depot, in Weydon Lane, was opened by the Southern Railway at the time of the electrification of the Portsmouth and Alton lines in 1937.[19] It was refurbished for the introduction of modern units when slam-door trains were replaced circa 2005. At the same time, disused quarry and ballast dump sidings behind the carriage shed were removed and a number of outdoor sidings were laid for overnight storage and servicing of units.
In May 2011, the train company faced media attention after dismissing a ticket clerk for carrying out unauthorised work on the track of an active, electrified railway line in Hampshire. As the clerk claimed to be removing an obstacle from the track, the press supported him and a 7,000-name petition was collected.[20] The case will be heard at an Industrial Tribunal in Southampton on 1 November 2011, when it is expected that South West Trains will be able to present their side of the story. In the outcome the ticket clerk did not contest his dismissal when his barrister was presented with the full facts of the case by SWT.[21]
| Preceded by Network SouthEast As part of British Rail |
Operator of South West franchise 1996 - 2007 |
Succeeded by South West Trains South Western franchise |
| Preceded by Island Line Island Line franchise |
Operator of South Western franchise 2007 - present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by South West Trains South West franchise |
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