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South West Trains Information

South West Trains is a train operating company operating in the United Kingdom, providing train services to the south-west of London, chiefly in Greater London and the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Berkshire and Wiltshire.

Legally known as Stagecoach South Western Trains Limited, the parent company of South West Trains is Stagecoach Group which also owns East Midlands Trains and 49% of the Virgin Trains franchise. The South West Trains franchise is stated as being the most complicated train operating company to operate because of the vast number of services.

There are five main lines operated by South West Trains:

The South Western Main Line to Southampton Central, Bournemouth and Weymouth.
The Portsmouth Direct Line via Guildford and Haslemere.
The West of England Main Line to Exeter Central, Paignton, Plymouth (and Penzance).
Wessex Main Line (part): Southampton Central via Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads.
London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke and Eastleigh.

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South West Train Services The vast majority of South West Trains' services are on electrified lines using the 750 V DC third-rail system. There is a relatively small diesel fleet for services on the West of England line to Exeter and Bristol. South West Trains operates up to 1690 trains per day. South West Trains are now renowned as a very reliable train operator. Initiatives to improve performance have borne fruit and services are generally reliable. These include the introduction of a completely re-structured timetable in December 2004 and the commissioning of a unified Network Rail and South West Trains control centre at Waterloo.

The hub of the network is London Waterloo station, South West Trains' London terminus. It connects London to the southern and western area of England; a major portion of the company's services is also concerned with suburban commuter lines in south-west London.

South West Trains Main lines

The South Western Main Line (SWML) to Southampton Central, Bournemouth and Weymouth (2 trains an hour through to Weymouth and 1 train an hour to Poole Mondays-Saturdays), with Sunday Bournemouth services extended to Poole;

The Portsmouth Direct Line via Guildford and Haslemere: leaves the main line at Woking (4 trains per hour to Guildford, then 1 semi-fast service and 1 stopping service to Haslemere. The semi-fast service continues as a stopping service to Portsmouth. The fast services run approximately half-hourly Mondays-Saturdays, 2 trains per hour (1 fast, 1 stopping from Guildford) on Sundays);

The West of England Main Line to Exeter Central, Paignton, Plymouth (and Penzance): leaves the main line at Basingstoke (Services west of Exeter will end from December 2009).

Wessex Main Line (part): Southampton Central via Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads

London Waterloo to Portsmouth Harbour via Basingstoke and Eastleigh (Hourly service off-peak Mondays-Saturdays, merges with the Poole train on Sundays).

South West Trains Suburban services

Suburban services diverge from the above routes. Taken in order westwards from Waterloo, travelling down the SWML, they are:

Waterloo to Reading line: from Clapham Junction
The Hounslow Loop Line from Barnes to Whitton or Feltham
The Windsor branch from Staines
The Chertsey loop line from Virginia Water to Weybridge
The Ascot to Ash Vale line via Camberley

The Mole Valley Line, from Raynes Park to Dorking via Epsom
The Chessington branch from Motspur Park
The branch to Guildford from Leatherhead

The Kingston Loop Line, from New Malden (Main Line) to Twickenham (Reading Line)
The Shepperton branch from Teddington. Normally, these services run via New Malden, sometimes via Twickenham.

The New Guildford Line, to Guildford via Cobham from Surbiton. Travellers from Guildford to London can also travel via the mainline through Woking or via Camberley

The Hampton Court branch, also from Surbiton

The Alton branch, from Brookwood

South West Trains Other services

Southampton local lines: Salisbury to Romsey via Southampton Central and Chandler's Ford (previously this service ran to Totton)

Lymington branch Heritage Line (Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier)

Island Line (Isle of Wight), Ryde Pier Head to Shanklin

Extension and renewal of franchise The South West Trains franchise was initially renewed for four years from February 2003. This was followed on 22 September 2006 by Stagecoach Group's winning of the right to operate the newly-enlarged South Western franchise for a further ten years until 2017. Competing bids for the franchise had been made by Arriva, First Group and a partnership between MTR Corporation and National Express Group (originally GNER).

This enlarged franchise started on 4 February 2007 and incorporated the formerly independent Island Line on the Isle of Wight. The legal name of the company has also changed from South West Trains Ltd to Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd - although the trading name has remained unchanged.

South West Trains Fleet

London Underground Fleet

Class 483 train at Ryde Pier HeadOn the Island Line, the clearances at Ryde Esplanade are insufficient for standard trains. As a consequence, since the line was electrified, former London Underground rolling stock is used. Since 1992, Class 483 trains have been used, of which five 2-car units remain in service, with a sixth awaiting overhaul. South West Trains took on this fleet when it was awarded the combined South West/Island Line franchise in 2007.

Greyhound Fleet

The final slam-door train on regular passenger services ran from London Waterloo to Bournemouth on 26 May 2005 with units 1396, 3536 and 1398. Some slam-door units have been preserved on heritage railways and three are retained by South West Trains for operations on the Lymington Branch Line and for special duties.

Services on the Lymington Branch Line are now operated as a "heritage" operation using one of two refurbished 3Cig units, nos. 1497 and 1498. The two units have been repainted into their original liveries, one in classic Southern green and the other in British Rail blue and grey, and were launched into service on 12 May 2005.

Desiro Fleet

The introduction of Desiro rolling stock built by Siemens was to replace the old slam-door trains which were coming to the end of their useful lives, and had been posing health and safety problems. The introduction was delayed because of the additional power needs of this type of stock: Network Rail spent £1 billion upgrading the power supply to take account of this. The new trains are generally proving popular with passengers. They have on-board information systems and full air-conditioning. Their faster acceleration is counterbalanced by the need to stop longer at each station, since they have fewer doors (although the fact that the old trains' doors could be opened while in motion was considered a safety hazard). In addition, the Desiros have many more components: all are computerised and subject to the possibility of breakdowns. It is estimated that the slam-door trains could achieve 60,000 miles (96,000 km) without breakdown; the Desiros an estimated 13,000 miles (20,800 km) but this is gradually improving.

The Desiro stock comes in two variants - Class 450 units which have four 20m cars and are mainly used on outer suburban services and Class 444 units which have five 23m cars as well as intercity style door layouts and are used on longer-distance services to Weymouth.

British Rail Electrics

South West Trains operate a fleet of Class 455 metro style commuter trains. These were built by BREL between 1983 and 1985.

A full refurbishment program that started in 2004 on the fleet of 91 four-car units was completed on 24 March 2008. Modifications included a new 2+2 seating layout with high back seats, CCTV, cycle storage, wheelchair space, doors that can now open further to allow for faster alighting and additional passenger information systems. All units are now painted in a new red "Metro" version of the South West Trains livery.

Juniper Fleet

Thirty of these four-carriage units were ordered by South West Trains in 1998, to create extra capacity and to replace some of the ageing 4Cep units, which at the time were on short-term lease. Deliveries of these units commenced in 1998.

The class suffered from major technical problems, so none of the older units were withdrawn from service. It was six more years, in 2004, before the full fleet was in service. In 2003 and 2004, reliability was so dire that although they were only six years old, South West Trains decided that the units should be replaced by 2005 with the newer Class 450 Desiro units . Only a handful of units are required each day to help maintain services from Waterloo to Reading, and these were expected to cease after 31 July 2006 when the lease with the rolling stock company expired. An application by South West Trains to extend this by six months was declined as the class does not meet all the requirements of disability legislation.

However, since then it was decided that on or before the start of the new franchise in February 2007, the class would be reinstated and take over all operations on the Waterloo to Reading line, indirectly covering the loss of the class 442s. They have been fitted with new larger destination screens that comply with the disability legislation, however, still fall foul in some other areas such as the height of the door open buttons. It is believed a small exemption is being made for the Class 458s in those respects.

Diesel Fleet

South West Trains currently has 30 three car Class 159s (22 159/0s and 8 159/1s) and 11 two car Class 158s.

The 159/1s were converted at Wabtec Doncaster from Class 158s, exchanged with TransPennine Express for Class 170s, to expand the current fleet. 11 further two car 158s were received from TransPennine Express, which were refurbished and renumbered. All South West Trains 159/0s are currently undergoing refurbishment at Wabtec Doncaster to look like the newly received and refurbished class members. They will however retain their more powerful engines.

Two ex SWT 158s, 786 and 789, have been allocated to First ScotRail and are currently based at Edinburgh Haymarket DMUD.

Wessex Electrics Fleet

These units (Class 442) were initially dedicated to the Weymouth line, but through the 1990s began to be diagrammed on the London Waterloo to Portsmouth direct line. In preparation of the Class 444 and Class 450 "Desiro" units taking over from the slam-door fleet, the Wessex Electrics were withdrawn from Portsmouth line services and were again wholly dedicated to the Weymouth line.

The Class 442 was one of the first types to make extensive use of plastics in construction, earning them the nickname among staff of "Plastic Pigs". When they were first introduced they were plagued by minor technical failures but subsequently became among the most reliable EMUs operating in the UK. South West Trains announced that they would be withdrawing these units with the last official workings of these units will take place on Saturday 13th January 2007. The last operated South West Trains service was on the 4th February. This move also coincides with South West Trains reinstating all Class 458s for the Waterloo-Reading line. As a result the Class 444s inherited the Waterloo - Weymouth route and the Class 450s took over some of the Portsmouth Harbour services, whilst the 442s went into storage at the Alsthom works at Eastleigh. The Department for Transport has suggested that the 442s are now likely to complement the Southern fleet and will be used on services out of London Victoria.

Turbostar Fleet

In 2000 South West Trains acquired a fleet of eight newly-built 2-car Class 170/3 units, to supplement its existing Class 159 fleet. Units were deployed on London Waterloo to Salisbury as well as a new Southampton local train, and Reading to Basingstoke trains. They were sometimes pressed into use on Exeter services, but as they are not fitted with end gangways for catering or selective door opening for the short platforms at some stations, this was not a regular route.

From late 2006 through to mid 2007, the Class 170s were gradually transferred to TransPennine Express in exchange for a larger number of Class 158 units, to expand and standardise the fleet. One Class 170, 170392, which was originally built to Southern specification, but taken over by South West Trains soon after its construction, has returned to Southern and converted to a Class 171 unit.

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