Media centre

Friday 12 Jun 2015

New future for the South West Trains - Network Rail alliance

Region & Route:

| Southern

• Re-shaped alliance to prioritise areas that deliver most for passengers
• Focus continues on joint delivery of major capacity enhancement plans

After three years in action, the ground-breaking South West Trains - Network Rail alliance is being reshaped.

It will see South West Trains (SWT) and Network Rail (NR) aiming to retain the best and most successful parts of the alliance.

SWT and NR envisage retaining the fully integrated control centre based at Waterloo (WICC), the one station team at Waterloo, integrated capacity and planning teams and the joint performance team - all of the joint teams established to deliver real benefits to passengers. The reshaped alliance will involve changes to management structure and commercial arrangements.

A key priority of the alliance moving forward is to deliver the biggest improvements seen on the Wessex route for decades. The jointly developed strategy will provide an extra 30% peak-time capacity by 2018 with new trains, major infrastructure improvements at Waterloo and bringing the former Waterloo International Terminal back into full use.

Going forward the Network Rail post of Route Managing Director will be reintroduced and John Halsall, current Infrastructure Director,  will assume this role, whilst Tim Shoveller continues to be Managing Director for South West Trains. They will continue to work closely to deliver benefits for customers.

Tim Shoveller said: "We have learned a huge amount over the past three years. It makes sense to have a look at our alliance with a view to continuing the areas that have worked really well, and stop doing the things that haven't.

“I'm incredibly proud of what the Network Rail and South West Trains teams have achieved for passengers. The strong ethic of teamwork, close working and collaboration will continue as we reshape the alliance to concentrate time and resource on the most effective areas."

 John Halsall said: “I am looking forward to South West Trains and Network Rail continuing to work closely together to continue to improve the rail network, delivering improvements in both capacity and performance for our passengers.”

The alliance has delivered a number of benefits over the past three years, which include reduced delays per incident, better train performance, a joint approach to managing the impact the weather has on the railway, and improved staff engagement.

The new rail operating and training centre at Basingstoke, a project jointly delivered by the alliance, is already delivering training for SWT and NR employees and will continue under the new arrangements.

 

Notes to editors:

• The alliance was formed in April 2012 and was overlaid onto the existing franchise.
• The work to reshape the alliance will be completed by the end of August.
• Over 2,000 passenger and freight services run on the Wessex network every day and the route covers 643 miles of track, with 1375 sets of points and 4394 signals.
• For further information contact the Networ Rail press office or Steven Stewart
  Director of Communications , Stagecoach Group T:01738 442111 M:07764 774680 E:
  steven.stewart@stagecoachgroup.com