South Western Railway has launched its new brand today, Monday 4 September.
A new fully-liveried, or branded, Class 444 train was unveiled at Waterloo station, following the completion of the August Waterloo station upgrade works.
It was great to officially launch the brand in front of key stakeholders from across the network and many of our South Western Railway employees.We’ve had a challenging couple of weeks with the completion of the August Waterloo upgrade works but we’re now looking to the future.
– Andy Mellors, Managing Director, South Western Railway
South Western Railway say they plan to invest £1.2 billion on new and refurbished trains, station improvement projects and the simplification of tickets between now and 2024.
50,000
extra seats SWR says it will provide across peak services by 2020.
First Group and MTR was awarded the South Western Rail franchise in March 2017, taking over from transport company, Stagecoach Group.
Formerly known as South West Trains, the service started running from 20 August and will do so until at least August 2024.
Managers say over 50,000 extra seats will be provided across peak services by 2020, with a delay repay scheme also being introduced.
100,000 half-price advanced tickets are also being offered to mark the launch, including travel to and from London Waterloo, Exeter, Bristol, Bath Spa, Weymouth, Bournemouth, Salisbury, Portsmouth Harbour and the Isle of Wight.
We are determined to improve journeys for passengers and under this deal passengers on South Western Railway will benefit from faster journeys, 90 new trains and more than 50,000 extra seats in and out of Waterloo each day during rush hour.We are delivering the biggest rail modernisation programme for over a century and alongside this massive investment in services we are also delivering major upgrades to Waterloo station."
– Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary