South West Trains

South West Trains (SWT) is a Train Operating Company operating in the United Kingdom, providing train services to the southwest of London, chiefly in Greater London and the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, and Wiltshire (the area largely covered before 1923 by the London and South Western Railway company, hence the new company's name).

Contents

1 SWT since privatisation 2 Train services 2.1 Main lines 2.2 Suburban services 2.3 Other services 3 Rolling stock notes 3.1 Desiro fleet 3.2 Other notes 4 Rolling stock details 5 External link

SWT since privatisation

A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, SWT took over the operation of the old British Rail Southern Region's South Western division in 1996. At the time it started changing the livery of its rolling stock to one with an orange, red, blue, and white stripe as this was an easy modification of the trains' existing British Rail Network SouthEast livery, but in recent years it has standardised on a trio of slight variations of this original - mainly white for long-distance services and mainly blue for outer-suburban services. As the Class 455 electrical multiple units go through refurbishment they are emerging in the mainly red livery which has been designed for inner-suburban services. Since privatisation a number of initiatives have been undertaken including refurbishing stations, better access for disabled people, and the Customer Information screens showing next train departures at every station.

The franchise was renewed in February 2003 for only four years instead of the expected 20-year franchise that the company was hoping for.

Recent developments include the introduction of new rail services and the reopening of Chandlers Ford station in Hampshire. At the end of 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 complete smoking ban on all SWT services was introduced from May 2004. In addition, there are restrictions on the carriage of bicycles - non-folding bicycles are banned from early morning and evening trains to and from London Waterloo, which has drawn criticism from integrated transport advocates and cyclists alike. The company justifies this policy by pointing out that many trains are extremely crowded during the rush hour, and that bicycles take up as much space as several people.

Train services

The hub of the network is London Waterloo station, SWT's London terminus. It connects London to the southern and western area of England; a major portion of the company's services is also concerned with suburban commuter lines in south-west London. All of SWT's trains into and out of Waterloo pass through or stop at Vauxhall, Queenstown Road and Clapham Junction stations. The latter is reputed to be the busiest rail junction in Europe

Main lines

There are four main lines operated by SWT:

• The South Western Main Line (SWML) to Southampton, Bournemouth and Weymouth;
• The Portsmouth Direct Line via Guildford: leaves the SWML at Woking;
• The West of England Main Line to Exeter: leaves the SWML at Basingstoke
• Wessex Main Line (part): Southampton via Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads

Suburban services

It is from these three routes that suburban routes operate. Taken in order westwards from Waterloo, travelling down the SWML, they are:

• Waterloo to Reading line: from Clapham Junction, includes the Hounslow Loop Line, the Windsor branch; the Chertsey loop line from Virginia Water to Weybridge; and the Ascot to Ash Vale line via Camberley;
• Dorking line, from Raynes Park, including:
  • the Chessington branch;
• the Shepperton branch, from New Malden, including:
  • the Strawberry Hill loop line;
• the Guildford route, via Cobham from Surbiton. Travellers from Guildford to London can also travel via the main line through Woking; and via Camberley
• the Hampton Court branch, also from Surbiton;
• the Alton branch, from Brookwood

Other services

• Southampton local lines: Totton via Chandler‘s Ford to Romsey
• Lymington branch

Rolling stock notes

Desiro fleet

The introduction of Desiro rolling stock built by Siemens was to replace the old slam-door trains which were coming to the end of their useful lives, and had been posing health and safety problems. The introduction was delayed because of the additional power needs of this type of stock: Network Rail spent £1 million upgrading the power supply to take account of this. The new trains, although providing faster acceleration, need more time at station stops, since there are fewer doors, all dependent on the train coming to a standstill before they can be opened (although there were safetyhazards with the previous stock in that respect). In addition, the Desiros have many more components: all are computerised and subject to more breakdowns. It is estimated the the slam-door trains could achieve 60 000 miles (96 000km) withour breakdown; the Desiros an estimated 13 000 miles (20,800km) for that reason (see this article (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-1629556,00.html)).

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 two are retained by SWT for operations on the Lymington Branch Line.

The Desiro stock comes in two variants - Class 450 units have four cars and are mainly used on outer suburban services, while Class 444 units have five cars and are for use on longer-distance services to, among other destinations, Portsmouth.

Other notes

The vast majority of SWT's services are on electrified lines using the 750 V DC third rail system. SWT operates up to 1690 trains per day. Due to the high volume of trains and years of under-investment delays are commonplace and often lead to passenger angst, but efforts are being made to improve the situation including the commissioning of a unified Network Rail and SWT control centre at Waterloo which aims to improve communication between the different organisations responsible for the operation of the railway.

Rolling stock details

• Locomotives
  • Class 73
• Diesel Multiple Units
  • Class 158
  • Class 159
  • Class 170 (Turbostar)
• Electrical Multiple Units
  • Class 411 - last units withdrawn in March 2005
  • Class 421 - last units withdrawn in May 2005 - two retained for heritage operations on Lymington Branch Line
  • Class 423 - last units withdrawn in May 2005 - one retained for railtour in June 2005
  • Class 442 (Wessex Electric)
  • Class 444 (Desiro)
  • Class 450 (Desiro)
  • Class 455
  • Class 458 (Juniper)

External link

• South West Trains (http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk)de:South West Trains

nl:South West Trains