South Western Railway; An Update 19 May 2022

South Western Railway; An Update

Speakers: Andrew Ardley and David Wilby

Date: 19 May 2022

It’s a generally improving picture announced Andrew Ardley, who with his colleague David Wilby gave an excellent resume of the position in which South Western Railway (SWR) presently find themselves now that the COVID pandemic really does appear to be fading into history.  Both are Regional Development Managers of SWR, and informed us that during the various enforced lockdowns caused by the pandemic “A lot has been going on” and SWR have not stood still.

Stations have been refurbished and repainted, station Wi-Fi systems installed, while Network Rail’s track renewal and re-signalling schemes have gone ahead.  A repainting scheme of rolling stock into the latest SWR livery is currently being carried out at Bournemouth Depot, (we were shown a whistlestop paced film of staff at work repainting Class 444 and 450 units on a 24/7 basis) and you will no doubt have noticed the increasing number of units now sporting SWR’s plain but bright fresh colours (though some will regret the passing of the rich reds and strong blues of South West Trains livery!)

The pandemic, with its consequent collapse of passenger traffic, did not leave SWR itself unscathed.  Some of the re-liveried train sets now running bear pictorial witness and tribute to three members of the railways staff who died.  Many other staff and their families were affected by the disease, and the effect was to decimate the numbers of drivers available and therefore services which could be run.  COVID meant that driver training was affected too, as social distancing prevented two drivers being together in a cab at the same time.  The knock on effect persists today.

You will no doubt know that if, today, you board a Waterloo bound morning peak hour train you will normally find standing room only, except perhaps on Mondays and Fridays - when you still might even be able to find an empty seat!  Yes the rumours about “working from home” really do seem have some truth, as commuter traffic generally remains some way below the pre-pandemic level of crush, about 60% of the former volume.  Leisure and long distance passenger traffic, on the other hand, appears to be flourishing and near to former levels.  Is this the future pattern to be expected, one wonders?

Train punctuality performance (as shown by  various graphs displayed in the talk) again indicates general steady improvement, despite severe stormy weather suffered in March (fallen trees, track circuit failures), and despite the everyday hazards with which the modern railway has to contend, the never ending incidents of mindless trespass and fatalities on the line.  And some of the service cuts enforced during the worst of the pandemic have been reversed (with the approval of the Government whose consent for funding has of course first to be obtained: the service via Bournemouth to Weymouth has been restored to two trains per hour.

With current indications that leisure traffic must be encouraged to replace the present vacuum in peak passenger commuter volume, much thought is going into how to entice those passengers to use the railway off peak, and to make extra journeys.  Flexible season tickets are one way, but also how to persuade business and employers to encourage staff to use trains more?  Schemes to include electric bike hire in the ticket price, or discounted ticket prices for visits to cultural destinations (eg Windsor) or family outings to Thorpe Park are being considered (as are rail tickets to include discounts at restaurants!).

South Western Railway have confronted the COVID challenge with positivity; station refurbishment at Pokesdown, Honiton, Dorchester South and a new forecourt designed for Salisbury, all show determination to develop and improve longer distance services.  As for the “withered arm” of the ex LSWR west of Salisbury?  Such a pity that the Beeching years of the sixties singled so much of the long stretch to Exeter, and more passing loops (desperately required) if not restoration to full double track will be very costly.  One can but hope, and don’t forget that Exeter to Okehampton now has a regular service restored!