Ranil Jayawardena met with South West Trains, Network Rail and First Great Western this week to demand improvements to the railways for North East Hampshire.
In response Network Rail outlined their plans to deliver a 30% increase in peak time passenger capacity and will provide the biggest improvements seen on the network for many decades:
New trains: they will be rolling out a fleet of £210m fleet of 30 new five-carriage trains from 2017.
Extra trains: they are already in the process of introducing 108 additional refurbished carriages, allowing them to run longer trains and boost capacity for passengers on some of the busiest routes.
Major improvements at London Waterloo station: in parallel with the new trains, they are working with Network Rail on major improvement works at London Waterloo station which will help to increase capacity and reliability.
In addition, South West Trains recently signed an agreement with the Department for Transport that will deliver £50 million worth of customer enhancements between now and February 2017 under an amendment to the current franchise agreement. The planned improvements include:
More space for passengers: more than 57,000 additional seats will be created through the introduction of 73 new evening and weekend services on suburban and mainline
Ranil said: ‘Many residents living in North East Hampshire are commuters, so I want South West Trains, Network Rail and First Great Western to ensure constituents are getting the best possible deal and the most efficient service. This is important to improving the local and economy and local peoples commutes. We must get quicker, longer, better trains - and soon!'