2.3% Fare Rise On South West Trains

5 December 2014, 11:07 | Updated: 5 December 2014, 11:14

South West Trains has confirmed that fares on its services will rise by an average of 2.3% from next month.

The cost of a single journey will rise by an average of 9.5 pence, the lowest increase for five years.

Separately, the Government confirmed in Wednesday’s Autumn Statement that season tickets and other fares it regulates will rise by 2.5%.
                                       
The overall average price increase for all fares across the UK in 2015 will be 2.2%.

Rail passengers can check ticket prices for 2015 from today at stations, online at southwesttrains.co.uk or through National Rail Enquiries.
 
Tim Shoveller, Chief Executive of the South West Trains-Network Rail Alliance, said:

"Money from fares goes towards running and maintaining the railway which benefits every household in the country, by improving journeys, creating employment and helping to boost the economy.

“Over the next five years, Network Rail is spending on average £27m a day building and maintaining a better railway that benefits passengers, communities and businesses across Britain alongside commitments made by train companies to improve services.  That will mean more seats, better stations and improved journeys.

“For every pound spent on fares, 97p goes on track, train, staff and other costs while 3p goes in profits earned by train companies for running services on Europe’s fastest growing railway.

“The industry is continuing to work together to get more for every pound we invest to enable government to make fares decisions which work best for passengers.”

The South West Trains – Network Rail Alliance says over the last year it has introduced a number of measures for customers including free Wi-Fi which is now benefitting millions of passengers on the mainline route from London Waterloo to Weymouth and Portsmouth.

In addition, the Alliance is currently part-way through the roll-out of 108 refurbished train carriages for the network and recently unveiled a £6million investment in state-of-the-art engineering equipment at Wimbledon depot.

The company, working with industry partners, has also invested more than £22million in improvements at more than 30 stations over the past 18 months. In addition, the Alliance has delivered a series of fares promotions, providing discounted tickets for hundreds of thousands of passengers throughout the past year.

Further improvements planned for passengers include:

- A £7m upgrade to the railway through Wimbledon, improving reliability and punctuality for hundreds of thousands of passengers each day on one of the busiest parts of Britain’s rail network
- A £210m project to introduce 150 new train carriages to provide for more than 24,000 peak-time passengers
- Major infrastructure improvements being carried out at London Waterloo to enable the introduction of the new fleet of trains.  The plans include bringing the remaining four platforms of the former Waterloo International Terminal back into full use and then extending Platforms 1-4 to accommodate longer 10-carriage trains.