MPs ‘take over’ the House of Commons to demand better trains
070371_0050_SW_TRAINS (DK) 30/1/07 South West Trains passengers in the new 450 rolling stock carriages, on the journey from Fratton Station, Portsmouth, to Guildford. PICTURE: MICHAEL SCADDAN (070361-0050)
RAIL commuters have welcomed efforts from local MPs to improve conditions on trains to London.
Portsmouth North MP Penny Mordaunt led a ‘Hampshire takeover’ of the House of Commons to call for improvements to South West Trains’ Portsmouth-London Waterloo route.
She called for the firm’s class-450 trains to be replaced by the bigger Desiro 444 model. The Tory argued the 450 model is uncomfortable for long-distance journeys.
She said: ‘A report commissioned by SWT on its class-450 carriages, found 59 per cent of people – when their elbows are taken into account – will not fit into the seats. The Rail Passengers’ Council found the trains are not suitable for mainline services. Yet 53 per cent of services between Portsmouth and Waterloo are formed of these trains.’
Ms Mordaunt was joined by Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage, East Hampshire’s Damian Hinds, and Portsmouth South’s Mike Hancock.
They convinced transport minister Theresa Villiers to set up a meeting between SWT, passenger groups and MPs.
David Habershon, of pressure group No To 450s, said: ‘We’re very pleased Penny and the other MPs have helped make progress.’
SWT said: ‘We are aware of the issues discussed during the debate and have, for a number of years, engaged fully with passenger groups on this matter.’
WEB POLL n Page 7
COMMENT n Page 8
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Comments
There are 9 comments to this article
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Regular Commuter
Monday, March 21, 2011 at 07:05 PMSee all the latest news on www.no450.co.uk - the full transcript of Penny Mordaunt's debate in the Commons and her article in the Times today.
t350
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 08:48 AMIts about time that South West trains started to value their customers and give them the service that we are all paying for. It is a FACT that existing trains can simply be shuffled around to accomodate an all Class 444 service on the Portsmouth to Waterloo line. Although this is mainly a money saving exercise by an increasingly desperate SWT, it is also pigheadedness on their part as well. Just remember SWT... We commuters have very long memories, and when it comes to re-bidding for the franchise you can expect lots of letters from disgruntled commuters to the DfT and MP's reminding them what a truely awful service you have made us all endure. The No450 campaign has all of the details, look it up....
HRUG Secretary
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 01:09 PM“Haslemere Rail Users' Group has been 100% behind the Portsmouth, Gosport and Petersfield MPs and this is a great step forward. By order of the Sec of State the DfT now must meet HRUG and other passenger groups round the table. It has taken over 4 years to get the DfT involved and last week’s debate was a huge step towards restoring adequate rolling stock to Haslemere train services.”
wimorrison
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 08:06 AMWhole heartedly support the effiorts to try and take SWT to task on this. I have sent them several mails and been fobbed of each time with them stating that there are no objections to these carraiges! I am also involved in a discussion between Passenger Focus and SWT on the costing of the Underground element of a Travelcard as it varies from around £4 to over £10 on this line - and this is on the same train arriving all the way along the line. The cost peaks at Haslemere - it is cheaper on EVERY station than at Haslemere - tell me how that works
wimorrison
Tuesday, March 15, 2011 at 08:05 AMWhole heartedly support the effiorts to try and take SWT to task on this. I have sent them several mails and been fobbed of each time with them stating that there are no objections to these carraiges! I am also involved in a discussion between Passenger Focus and SWT on the costing of the Underground element of a Travelcard as it varies from around £4 to over £10 on this line - and this is on the same train arriving all the way along the line. The cost peaks at Haslemere - it is cheaper on EVERY station than at Haslemere - tell me how that works
Regular Commuter
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 09:27 AMWhere's the link to the Web poll please?
Regular Commuter
Monday, March 14, 2011 at 09:25 AMHopefully the DfT and SWT will at last pay attention and remove the Class 450 trains. The SWT comment in the article a bit odd. It says the company is "..engaged fully with passenger groups on this matter". In my experience SWT absolutely refuses to even talk about it. All I get from managers and Customer Relations at Southampton is a standard statement about "the need to provide more seats". Everybody knows the services don't need more seats, certainly not unuseable ones. Only one or two peak services beyond Woking are crowded - and Woking people have got plenty of other trains to chose from. Portsmouth trains are only crowded if there's a delay or cancellation of the previous service, or if they're short formation (which they mostly are). Let's sort this out for once and for all. It's being going on for over 4 years.
Sailor Sam
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 09:21 AMIt's not Penny's elbows that need to be taken into acount, her problem is more 'deep -seated.'
Fratton Parks next door neighbour
Friday, March 11, 2011 at 08:16 AMYup withdraw them from service on the Portsmouth to Waterloo line!!
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