Stakeholder Annual Report 2019 A FirstGroup and MTR company. Contents 4 Foreword: Andy Mellors 6 Foreword: David Dickson 7 Our Values 8 Route Map 10 Performance 12 Network Rail 14 Our Customers 24 Our Partners Stakeholder Annual Report 2019 32 Our Community 40 Our People 42 Contacts 4 | Stakeholder Annual Report 2019 5 | Stakeholder Annual Report 2019 Welcome to our second stakeholder report. A lot has happened in the last year with some good progress on many fronts and there is much more to come. egionally we have seen the emergence forward to seeing a wide range of applications investment in new customer and staff information screens at of travel from their stations. They continue to develop great and development of Sub National and their implementation over the next couple a number of stations alongside new ticketing options such as ideas to enhance their routes and we look forward to receiving RTransport Bodies – our network serves of years. the recently launched Tap to Go account-based product. their proposals for the first round of our Customer and three of these and, for the South West as Communities Improvement Fund which is open until mid- You, our stakeholders, will quite rightly expect The quality of our rolling stock is of course key to the a whole, several others have an important September. us as an industry to continue to improve the customer experience. Central to this are the refurbishment influence. Nationally we have a new Prime quality of our offer including performance and of the mainline fleets and the wholesale replacement of the Our Community Ambassadors, working very closely with Minister and Secretaries of State for investment in the customer experience. Our suburban fleet with the new Class 701 units. The latter’s the CRPs, have also been a great success with 35 staff Transport and Housing, Communities and partners, Network Rail, are clearly crucial to delivery schedule is unfortunately behind where we wanted volunteering for the role. They have delivered over 35 unique Local Government. Putting aside the debate achieving that and they have contributed to it to be due to well-publicised delays involving our contractor Try the Train events to date for those lacking the confidence to about Brexit, it is already clear that there is a this report to explain their progress and plans. which have also affected orders for other operators. We are use our services. A wide range of groups have benefitted from strong emphasis on regional investment in The new Joint Performance Improvement currently talking to Bombardier to agree a revised delivery new mothers to trainee assistance dogs. infrastructure and rail very much needs to be Centre at Waterloo is just one example of schedule. The first new unit is scheduled for delivery in spring part of that mix. I hope you find the information on the following pages useful the improvements that we have made since 2020. – we will continue to engage with you throughout the next 12 It’s essential that our region has a clear the publication of the Holden Report in 2018. This May saw another stage in the enhancement of our months through the stakeholder newsletter and events such vision and strategy for investment in rail that Indeed, we have already completed 16 of the timetable with over 300 extra weekly services introduced. as the recent stakeholder conference in Woking (look out for persuades the politicians that it is deliverable, 28 recommendations and more are in the This has included lengthening a number of trains, details of the next one in November) and individual meetings good value for money and brings genuine pipeline. Our network now has the lowest increasing frequencies in the peak and off-peak and the through our stakeholder team. benefits that seamlessly tie in with Local number of temporary speed restrictions since phased introduction of the refurbished Class 442 trains. Industrial Strategies, Local Plans and other the beginning of the franchise. I hope you would This is another step towards achieving the benefits of the strategies. Other areas such as Midlands agree that the impact of this was demonstrated Yours sincerely planned December 2018 timetable following the extensive Connect are already ahead of the game in by the network’s improved resilience during consultation we undertook towards that. Further incremental that respect. We as a rail industry can only the recent very high temperatures. There are enhancements are planned for future timetables in December achieve that together with you, our partners. of course still too many infrastructure failures 2019 and beyond. Our Regional Development Manager team has impacting on service delivery – as part of the been working alongside Network Rail, other Control Period 6 funding settlement, Network Our Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) and station train operators and many of you on a number Rail Wessex secured an additional £88m to adoption groups make a real difference to both the day to Andy Mellors of exciting plans through the Transforming improve the underlying sustainability of the day experience of our customers and supporting the growth Managing Director Cities Fund and Continuous Modular Strategic infrastructure between 2019 and 2024. From Plans but we need to quickly develop that into a South Western Railway perspective we have a coherent regional approach from Exeter and also committed over £4m in fleet reliability Bristol to Reading and Portsmouth. modifications over and above our franchise commitments and have also enhanced and Andy Mellors It’s not all about major improvements though. out-based our traincrew resource management Managing Director Well co-ordinated smaller projects can capability to improve the management of make a real difference to how our existing disruption. We’re also working closely with and future customers perceive their journey. Network Rail to enhance our joint Control This can mean new options for the first and Centre team capability. last mile such as the shared electric bike schemes in Exeter and Bournemouth / Poole / We recognise that it’s important for you to Christchurch. We were very pleased to secure see delivery on the ground. Some of those over £1m of DfT funding to invest in shared that have been completed or are in progress bike and cycle parking schemes at stations, include: a high proportion of the £6.8m available • Accessible ramp and cycle storage at nationally. This wouldn’t have been possible Chessington South without the co-operation of our partners, particularly through the provision of match • Ewell West footbridge and lifts (being funding. delivered by Network Rail) We have launched the first round of our • Footbridge at Syon Lane Customer and Communities Improvement Fund (CCIF) which is open to many You will find more detail on these and other organisations and groups for larger and smaller projects in the following pages. projects. The closing date will soon be upon Technology plays an important part in the us by the time you read this report, but I look improvements we are making. There is a £4m Class 442 6 | Stakeholder Annual Report 2019 7 | Stakeholder8 | Stakeholder Annual Annual Report Report 2019 2018 A word from our SWR vision partners, and values Network Rail Our vision is: Our values are: etwork Rail’s Wessex route includes the majority of funding - 20 per cent more than our award in the SWR’s network, covering around 1300 miles of track previous funding round. This will be invested across We will be truly customer Nand some of the busiest lines in the country. Each the route over the next five years. The funding will year, some 230 million passenger journeys are made across support the operations, maintenance and renewals focused, placing the customer at Committed to our customers our network which includes London Waterloo - Britain’s of our existing infrastructure such as stations, tracks, the heart of everything we do. busiest railway station. bridges and signalling equipment. This will mean smoother, more reliable journeys for passengers. With more and more people using rail as a means of Service improvements from enhancement projects travelling between towns and cities as well as rural areas We will be commercially - ranging from accessibility improvements to major across our network, it is ever more important that the Supportive of each other capacity improvements - will be funded and delivered successful, allowing us to invest railway runs smoothly and provides a reliable service. On separately on a rolling basis with the Department of in our railway where it matters the Wessex route, we connect employers in key urban areas Transport and third-party investors. most to our customers and including London, Woking, Bournemouth, Southampton, Winchester and Reading and support tourism across the Our big focus this year is a £23 million programme colleagues. south of England. in Feltham, west London to improve the railway, the Accountable for performance station and surrounding area to make it safer and Working in partnership with Andy Mellors and the rest of more accessible for our passengers and the local We will be proud of our the SWR team, my priority this year has been on improving community. The work includes the construction of a performance across the network. We set up the Joint performance, safely getting our new accessible station entrance and the extension of Performance Improvement Centre with SWR at Waterloo customers where they need to platforms to facilitate the operation of longer trains. to bring our track and train teams closer together and to be, constantly striving for on We are also constructing a fully accessible pedestrian Dedicated to safety ensure lessons learned are embedded and that our daily time every time. and cycle bridge and the closure of Feltham West focus is on trains leaving on time, staying on time and on level crossing.