TRIBUTES have been paid to the 5,000 employees of South West Trains after its franchise came to an end.
Stagecoach Group has paid tribute to its team after the company completed its contract with the Department for Transport to run one of Europe’s biggest rail networks.
It is now known as South Western Railway after the handover took place last month. The contract will run for at least the next seven years and is owned by FirstGroup and MTR.
The new franchise promises faster services and up to 400 extra trains on Sundays.
Major work to improve the railway continued right up to the end of the contract. Stagecoach has introduced two new trains into service as part of a £210m investment.
The multi-million-pound upgrade of London’s Waterloo station and associated rail infrastructure will deliver thousands of extra seats and help to increase overall capacity by 30 per cent.
Stagecoach also gave two weeks’ worth of free travel to its South West Trains monthly and longer season ticket holders for the inconvenience caused as a result of the Waterloo upgrade work.
Chief executive of Stagecoach Group Martin Griffiths said: “I am very proud of the huge amount of work that’s been done over the past two decades to improve rail services for customers travelling with South West Trains.
"This is testament to the commitment of our 5,000-strong team of employees and the great partnership we have with Network Rail and other key suppliers.
“Collectively, they work hard day in, day out, as one railway to deliver a great service to customers.
“It’s been a privilege to serve the millions of customers who travel with us every year and I’m very confident we have handed over the network in a good shape to the new operators.”
Managing director for Stagecoach Rail, Tim Shoveller added: “We’ve done a huge amount over the last two decades to improve things for our customers with massive investment in every single area of our service.
“We would like to take the opportunity to thank our customers for the last 21 years, and more recently for their patience during the Waterloo works.”
In 1995, the director of passenger rail franchising awarded the South West Trains franchise to Stagecoach. It started operations on February 4, 1996, and in April 2001, the Strategic Rail Authority awarded Stagecoach a new franchise after it beat bids from FirstGroup/NedRailways and Sea Containers.
In December 2005, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced that Arriva, FirstGroup, MTR/Sea Containers, National Express and Stagecoach had been shortlisted to tender for the new South Western franchise, and the following year it was announced Stagecoach had beaten off this competition to retain the franchise.