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Question: 105

It seems that fares seem to rise above RPI every year, and Off Peak tickets are getting even more restricted, yet we never see any improvement to services.

We still have trains exactly the same length running to exactly the same timetable that we did 5 years ago.

Where exactly is all this extra money going?

Posted 26/08/2010 11:50:30

Answer:

The Government determine both the terms under which rail franchises are awarded and the rules on regulating rail fares. Since 2004, regulated fares (generally season tickets and peak walk-up tickets) have risen by an average 1% above inflation. It is Government policy to reduce the burden on taxpayers by increasing the proportion of operating costs that come from the fare-paying customer. Prior to 2004, fares rose by 1% less than inflation for six years.

In answer to your second point, we have been investing in improvements to customer facilities at stations, including a new passenger shelter at your local station. In the recent past, we have replaced our entire ticket vending machine fleet. We have also improved train service levels on certain routes; for instance, in December 2009 we introduced an hourly service on our West of England route (Exeter St David's - London Waterloo).

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Question: 104

Can nothing be done to improve the timetable for local services in the Bournemouth and Poole area?

There are three trains leaving Poole for Bournemouth within 27 minutes followed by a 33 minute gap. Parkstone and Branksome have 2 trains for Bournemouth within 9 minutes of each other followed by a 51 minute gap, which is ridiculous.

Also, many local journeys involve changing at Poole with a wait of over half an hour e.g Wool to Branksome, which involves a 17 minute journey to Poole, followed by a 34 minute wait at Poole and then a 7 minute trip to Branksome. The railway in the area is ideally placed to provide speedy transit across the Poole/Bournemouth/Christchurch conurbation, but sadly some journeys are quicker by bus because of these anomalies.

Posted by Frank Barra 26/08/2010 11:49:15

Answer:

I appreciate that some of the frequencies in the Bournemouth area are not ideal; however, I am afraid that the pathways and stopping pattern in the Bournemouth area are very much dictated by fitting in the trains in the timetable between Waterloo and Southampton, and also with other trains on the single line section between Moreton and Dorchester South.

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Question: 103

Why do you insist on only running 4 car trains on the Alton-Waterloo service off-peak and at weekends, even when trains are busy with shoppers and day-trippers heading to London?

People often have to stand north of Woking, or force themselves into the middle seat of a bay of 3.
This is even worse when additional stops are made at Esher for racegoers heading to Sandown Park.
Surely there is enough spare stock available to make sure off-peak and weekend passengers can travel in comfort.

Posted 26/08/2010 11:45:33

Answer:

The difficulty with weekend services is that it is often difficult to predict the number of passengers that will be travelling on our services.

Generally, 4-car services are sufficient, and we do strengthen services for particular special events and during the Christmas period.

To strengthen services often means having to operate 8-cars all day long which is wasteful and uneconomical.

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Question: 102

The 0040 Woking to Alton service seems to be replaced with a bus between Farnham and Alton almost as often as it runs as a train.

Is there really that much engineering work going on this section of line? Or is it just a way to save money by not having to send the train and crew down to Alton and back to Farnham Depot?

Posted 26/08/2010 11:42:18

Answer:

It is true that this service has been curtailed at Farnham more than usual in the last few weeks, but this has not been done to save money on drivers and guard wages.

Network Rail have recently completed two significant pieces of infrastructure work: a re-railing job and a bridge renewal. This has meant that they have needed a higher number of engineering "possessions" of the Alton branch in recent weeks, both at night and at weekends.

The 0040 Woking to Alton service has terminated at Farnham so that the train can be worked directly into the depot at Farnham, leaving an adequate amount of time during the night for the infrastructure engineers to take possession of the line and carry out their work, thus minimising the number of possessions required.

With the completion of these works, the 0040 Woking service should be able to operate with its normal level of reliability.

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Question: 101

Hello, I really want to become driver for South West Trains and I frequently check your job pages. I'm currently a senior designer working for a global company but I want a new career and a new challenge and something I'm passionate about.

When are you likely to start recruiting for new drivers especially in the Guildford area and what is the best way to get considered by South West Trains?

Posted 26/08/2010 14:25:02

Answer:

In all circumstances the best way to check on driver vacancies is to contact our recruitment department via the website, who will advise on the latest situation.

May I also suggest that South West Trains has other vacancies which maybe of interest to you and if successful would give you the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the business before deciding which area of the railway you would like to be considered for.

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Question: 100

The new 'Quiet Zone' labels on the outside of the train doors are much appreciated.

However, with the removal of the blue stickers from the windows, it is now harder tor people to know that it's a quiet zone once inside the train.

The new stickers next to the windows are not in an obvious place and are hard to spot.

Would it not be possible to have obvious labels both outside and inside (perhaps on the backs of airline seats and below the window in facing bays).

Posted 26/08/2010 11:37:55

Answer:

At present, we are reviewing the location of quite zone labels, and this includes the size and fitting to the interconnecting doors between the coaches.

We have to get the balance right on the number of labels that we place on our trains, and currently we are not considering fitting them to the seat backs due to the high number required per fleet.

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Question: 99

I write to you specifically with regard to the announcements on your trains on a sunday between Waterloo & Alton. The train spilts at Woking and one bit goes to Basingstoke and the other bit goes to Alton.

The announcement on the train announces this fact after each station repeatedly. Firstly to tell us that the train divides, then which portion goes where and then that I am in the portion that goes to Alton with all the stations that the train calls at. It does this after every station stop. The guard then comes over for good measure to repeat everything that has been said too!

I understand that this has to be announced, but could this be restricted to departing Waterloo and then arriving at Woking where the train splits? This number of announcements is a grossly excessive for this journey.

Posted 26/08/2010 14:26:55

Answer:

Whilst it is appreciated that this announcement can seem quite repetitive it is important that all our passengers’ needs are taken into consideration.

The announcement needs to be repeated to inform those passengers that have boarded at the stations in between Waterloo and Woking. It is also a mandatory requirement that this information is announced rather that just displayed on the dot matrix screens in each carriage for those passengers that are visually impaired.

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Question: 98

You're apparently extremely proud of yourself for having run all your trains on time yesterday, going so far as to write a happy little article about it.

But sad as that is, at least it proves that you CAN do it. So what's your excuse on the other 364 days of the year?

Posted 26/08/2010 11:35:25

Answer:

Yes, I was really pleased with the service we delivered yesterday morning, and our aim is to to do it everyday.

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Question: 97

Please get rid of the quiet carriages. They were a good idea except (a) you always get people who ignore them and use their phones, which starts arguments with nobody to police the system and (b) at each station 6 announcements are made which take 10 minutes, so its not quiet anyway (welcome onboard the south west trains..., this train is calling at...., if you see anything suspicious..., you must have a valid ticket to travel...., hello this is the conductor and I will be passing..., hello this is the refreshment girl...., etc etc)

Posted by Jaffa Brown 26/08/2010 09:01:53

Answer:

South West Trains has a mandatory obligation to make nearly all of the announcements that you hear on our services.

On the remainder of the announcements, we feel that these are of use to passengers such as the London Underground updates. We are working with Passenger Focus on identifying those that can be removed.

On the issue of mobile phone usage, we have found that although not observed 100%, these carriages are generally quieter. Guards do check on these carriages and where appropriate will ask the passenger concerned to move to the vestibule.

We therefore have no plans to remove these carriages, as they are still an overall benefit to the passenger

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Question: 96

Dear Sir,

I hold an annual season ticket from Aldershot to Waterloo, which I can use on the routes via Woking and also Guildford and Ascot & Richmond.

I have two specific questions:
1. Can I also use this on the routes from Guildford to Waterloo via Cobham or Bookham?
2. Why does my ticket not work in the automatic barrier at stations such as Guildford, Surbiton, Richmond or Wimbledon when it is valid there. It does work the barrier at Woking though for example. Please can you adjust the code at these stations to recognise my ticket as it is time consuming having to be asked to be let out of the station every time I go to these stations.

Posted 26/08/2010 14:35:19

Answer:

Your season ticket would indeed allow you to travel to London via Bookham or Cobham.

As far as your query on ticket acceptance at our station barriers is concerned, please leave this with me. There are limitations on the tickets that we can set for acceptance at stations remote to their origin/destination, but your suggestion is a sensible one. I'll see if this is possible.

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