01.05.06
4,500 extra seats on South West Trains
The Department for Transport has announced that there will be an additional 17 four-carriage trains for the south west trains fleet.
The trains will provide over 4,500 extra seats for passengers on the busy Basingstoke, Alton and Reading routes to London Waterloo. Angel Trains will purchase the vehicles from Siemens and lease them to the South Western franchise.
The deal will enable South West Trains to run more 12-carriage trains at peak times to increase capacity on busy commuter routes. The extra trains will help boost service reliability and performance by improving boarding times at stations along these routes.
Most of the new trains should be in service by the end of the year. They will be used by South West Trains and the new operator of the South Western Franchise when it commences in February 2007.
Rail Minister, Derek Twigg, said, “This is good news for passengers in the south west. The new trains will ease overcrowding on busy routes and boost reliability. Record numbers of people are travelling by train and these extra new trains will allow us to support future growth.
“We want to build on recent improvements to services in the south west, including £750 million investment in rolling stock, a new timetable that has better matched services to demand and over 90% of trains on time since September 2005.”
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