Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire, Ranil Jayawardena MP, welcomes the protection of four peak services per hour from Hook, Winchfield and Fleet.
3,333 North East Hampshire residents signed a petition started by Ranil Jayawardena MP. Further, over 850 residents signed and returned his special consultation response card urging SWR not to reduce local services. Ranil Jayawardena MP handed these over to SWR in person just before Christmas.
SWR received feedback on calling for the retention of four trains per hour at Hook and Winchfield in the peak periods. Their plans have now been amended to accommodate the requirement of four services per hour in the peak to serve these stations.
No local station will now have fewer peak services than they have today.
Across their network by 2020, SWR plan to deliver 22,000 extra morning peak seats per day and 30,000 extra evening peak seats at London Waterloo compared to 2017 also.
Ranil Jayawardena MP said:
“This is good news for hard working people. Following my petition, I'm delighted that SWR have listened and have protected our local services from Hook, Winchfield and Fleet.”
He continued:
“If our local services had been reduced, it would have pushed more people into their cars, on to the roads around Fleet, Farnborough and Basingstoke—not good for anyone—so thanks to everyone who signed my petition.”
“I want to be clear to local people: I am putting you first. Recent reliability on the line has been appalling, we need more and better seats, and current smart ticketing isn’t smart enough.”
“I'm meeting Network Rail again very soon to challenge them on their recent performance and I will continue to push for improvements from SWR too.”
You can find out more on SWR's announcement here.
