A FLEDGLING rail company is in discussions over plans to launch a new rail service from Southampton to London, promising cheaper fares and more seats.

Alliance Rail Holdings wants to run a new service to the capital in competition with South West Trains, and are currently in talks with rail groups.

The proposed service would call at Eastleigh, Winchester, Basingstoke and Hook, before heading to London Waterloo.

The company has said it will use trains offering 600 seats on each service, with both standard and first class spots provided.

Today South Hampshire Rail Users Group co-ordinator Denis Fryer explains why the new service and competition may be good news for all out services in the south.

“In principle, a new service would be great, if the track capacity is available", he said.

“The services would reportedly use some of the comfortable Wessex Electric units which Stagecoach, the company that runs the South West Trains franchise, took off lease to boost profits.

“Around twenty per cent of services between Southampton and Waterloo are currently operated with outer-suburban stock which is unsuitable for this length of journey.

“The latest trains just aren’t as comfortable.

“Privatisation was supposed to be all about competition and getting a better deal for passengers, but when it comes to South West Trains, people have just been paying more and more.

“Fares have soared, along with station car park charges, and successive additional restrictions have been introduced on the availability of cheaper tickets, the latest from September this year.

“One example I’d like to mention is that a SW Trains day return from Southampton Central to Weymouth - which is a 63 mile journey - costs £27.

“A journey on Southern Trains from Southampton to Brighton - which is 62 miles - costs £15.40.

Daily Echo:

“There are also no peak trains from Southampton Central to Eastleigh between 7.38am and 8.35am, Monday to Friday. The only option is to go out to Winchester and come in again, which is only a minute or two quicker than waiting for the next direct train from Southampton at 8.35am.

“The proposed stopping pattern of the new service would offer faster services for Eastleigh and Hook.

“Eastleigh’s London services have been slowed in recent years and Hook has never had the type of service which the town’s considerable growth merits.

“The existing Southampton-London services suffer badly from overcrowding, particularly in the peak hours because of demand, and off-peak because too few carriages are used.

“This would be mitigated by having additional trains.

“Another of the main issues is when there are delays or changes to service. They often don’t let passengers know in time when stops are to be omitted.

“The on-board announcements are no good if you cannot get off in time to avoid being carried past your station!

“Revenue protection has been a very high-profile problem for customers at times. SW Trains have dragged people to court for accidentally under-paying, but a lot of cases have been thrown out of court.

“Finally, the behaviour of South West Trains’ staff often falls below professional standards.

“The company’s Twitter feed has a good number of complaints on most days.

“The same old problems come up every day.

“Since Stagecoach took over SW Trains and cut middle-management, nothing gets solved.

“At the stations themselves, some of the staff are really nice, but some are very unhelpful.

“Ultimately, we need to see more trains and cheaper fares for passengers.

“Any extra operating costs could be covered if more people are attracted to rail travel.”