News welcomed by Assembly Member Tony Arbour
The Department for Transport (DfT) plans to invite train operating companies to bid for the franchise which runs trains through Barnes, Putney & Wandsworth Town, which SWT has run since British Rail was privatised in 1996.
It is one of the country's biggest rail franchises, operating more than 1,600 trains a day, serving more than 200 stations and carrying over 200 million passengers a year.
Following the news that the South West Train franchise, will be put out to tender, Hounslow’s London Assembly member Tony Arbour has received an assurance from Mike Brown, the new Commissioner for Transport for London, that TfL will bid for the inner suburban routes as part of a South London Metro.
Tony said:
“The enormously successful takeover by TfL Overground of the decrepit North London Line has already shown that TfL know how to run a railway well.
South West Trains service has not been outstanding even by London’s low level of delivery . TfL will have my support, and I hope that of the thousands of residents who suffer the misery of their current commute.”
July 9, 2015