South West Trains

...facts, or my impression of South West Trains. Well....... Eeerrrr....they have a web site, www.swtrains.co.uk, where you can go for details of all their routes and prices !!! Perhaps you might have needed to know that ?? South West Trains is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stagecoach Group. Now this in itself is interesting because I spent several years of my life commuting to London from Northants on a Stagecoach coach, and today I'm commuting to London ...
...South West Trains run 1,690 trains every weekday, serving 217 stations and employing about 4,500 staff, fancy having to make up the pay packets for that many ... "£10 for you, and £5 for you".., you'd need a mountain of cash !!! Come to think of it, you'd need a lot of trains !!! London Waterloo is the hub of the network, also housing London Underground as well as Waterloo International terminal for Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels via the ...

MRANDREWSJK 10.06.2002 (08.07.2002) · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...about the terrible state of South West Trains. I can hardly bring myself to pay for my train ticket nowadays when I know what type of journey I can expect. I use SW Trains to get into work everyday (early morning and evening), and travel from Guildford to Waterloo. My gripe lies not with the staff at SW Trains, I think they make the best of what they have and are usually polite and happy to help, but with the state of the trains which are absolutely ...
...with fellow passengers to get a seat on the train. As Guildford is at the end of the line most seat are taken from passengers earlier in the journey. So usually one is forced to either stand in the corridor for the 40 minute journey or at worst sit in one of the smokers compartments. I am not a smoker and I tend to just walk through the compartment, but it seems to me there are loads of smoking cars. WHY!!!! They are usually only half full of smokers ...

Royston1 28.09.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

South West Trains (SWT) operate services between London Waterloo and the South West of England; reaching places like Reading, Exeter, and Southampton etc, it also runs a suburban network through south west London… I’ve been travelling one the “Reading” line for almost 4 years now, and this is what I think of them, I can only speak on behalf of this line, there is a chance I could mislead you on the general picture… ...
...In one word, I think it has been awful, I have traveled on SWT for almost 4 years and the percentage of times I have been on time (i.e. no later than 3 minutes later than the advertised arrival time) about 75% of the time, is this acceptable? I think your opinion is as valid as mine. I have had my train cancelled 4 times, which isn’t bad, but when waiting on the platform at Waterloo, I have heard of far many more cancellations. The latest it ...

Modena 14.02.2002 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...the board of management from South West Trains who will be passing down the carriages. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them." Ah-ha, so that is what they are up to. Then again, at our first stop, West Byfleet, "Good Morning and welcome to those passengers who have joined the 0733 semi-fast service to London Waterloo calling at….." and then they again told us that there were South West Train managers on board. Shortly after ...
...thanked us for travelling with South West Trains and wished us a pleasant day. Despite being told that there were managers on the train (and seeing them at Woking station) they did not make it far enough up the train to get the chance to speak to them. South West Trains had actually managed to run a 12 carriage train (as per the timetable) rather than the usual 8 carriages that turn up most mornings. Is it any wonder that the train companies will ...

CareBear 23.08.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

I myself travel using South West Trains very frequently, and in writing this opinion I also draw on the comments of father who daily catches the 0752 from Guildford to Waterloo, using a season ticket which cost him many thousands of pounds. Trains are frequently delayed, cancelled or short in carriages, causing much disruption, which people who have spent a lot on their ticket do not deserve. Having finally managed to get on the train, they are overcrowded ...
...are always virtually empty, yet South West Trains still fill their trains with such carriages, as often longer trains are made up from three smaller ones, all containing a first class and smoking compartment, resulting in a longer train with six carriages that the general public cannot use. The buffet is a smoking area, and is taken over by smokers, who see it as another smoking compartment. So if you are sensitive to smoke, it is impossible to get ...

helendavis83 11.05.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

I've been a train traveller all my life and as neither of my parents drive I have got use to what our trains were like but recently i feel they have been getting worse. For example i went to Southampton recently and the toilets were a total mess. There was no loo role as it was all over the floor, the tap water didn't run/flow properly, and the hand towels were non-existent. Also the door didn't close, as the lock didn't reach its fixing on the wall. ...
...On a hot day you would like a drink if you were gonna be on a train for 2 hours. So you would think there might at least be a buffet service, well you'd be wrong. There was no buffet in any of the carriages; there wasn't even a trolley service. So are we meant to die of dehydration? … well I guess the train companies just might think that! There is also a lot of graffiti on the trains. You have windows with so many scratches in, that you cant ...

Cathy_Young 04.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...If you can avoid taking south west trains, then do. They can, at best, be described as a bunch of talentless clowns. The entire system is a shining example of how NOT to run a service. Well, let's start at the beginning with the ticket purchasing. Ok, I know it's not South West Trains, but hey it's all part of the SWT "experience" and you can GARAUNTEE that there will be a large queue when you go to buy your ticket. So get ready to stand in line, ...
...queue to buy a ticket for SWT. Einstein was correct, time dilation does exist, and as soon as you start to queue, it s-l-o-w-s down right away. So anyway, you've been ripped off for your ticket (example: return to Newport Wales, coming back the next day costs around £70, THE SAME PRICE AS A FLIGHT TO AMSTERDAM!!!). You then get onto the platform. If the train has arrived on time, then congratulations, you're a winner! Get the video camera out to ...

PaulRoss 27.07.2000 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

South West Trains run most of the trains in the south west, as the name suggests conveniently. When the network was privatised it was taken over by Stagecoach and since then i would have to say that the service has got worse. Weymouth is a small town that is surrounded by hills and only has one proper road out that is always ful of traffic. This makes the trains the only way out of the town without getting stuck in traffic jams. I am one of those ...
...*The trains The trains that south west trains operate vary between routes. On the Weymouth to Waterloo route that i live on it is mostly served by about 10year old electric trains (class 442 for all you trainspoters). These trains arent doing bad for there age and they have all in the last year been refurbished to give them a new colour scheme. From the outside the trains look a lot better in there red, orange, blue and white livery but it all stops ...

leggb 16.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...opinions from other people regarding South West Trains, i have to agree with the people who havent given the SW Trains a good rating because they are very poor at the moment. From when i was a small kid (about 10 yrs ago) i hardly ever went on trains but when i did i used to love it and always wanted to be a train driver. Well havent those years changed my opinion drastically. Having been to a number of stations i feel that many train stations such ...
...really in need of a make over. With Southampton offering very few seating places for the public (such as around 2/3 benches for each platform) i feel that with many delays etc it would be better for the train users to have more seating facilities. Also the prices for coffee, food at several stations such as Southampton, Brighton are very high and many times customers over look buying food from the stations due to the heavy amount of cash they would ...

TYoung 06.07.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

Grrrr! South West Trains! Grrrr! I am lucky enough to live in the North so do not have to use South West Trains on a regular basis (‘regular’ not being a word I’d use to describe them however…), but as my partner lives in Guildford I occasionally use the service to travel from Guildford to Waterloo. On the whole I would describe the services as unreliable, and the trains as creaky and stuffed to the brim with passengers – ...
...cheque. But no! South West Trains eventually replied, and the envelope was sadly cheque free. Their reasons for not giving me a refund were that…. 1. I had not been delayed by more than an hour. This was correct, but only because I had got a taxi. Had I waited for the delayed train, then I would have missed my connection, and would have had to get the next Sheffield train which would have got me in over an hour after the intended one. 2. ...

The_Walrus 01.02.2002 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...and on. So why do South West Trains have over 28,000 customers each day? The reason – well, it’s probably because even though they fail on nearly everything, it is still easier than driving. They run over 1600 trains every weekday, to over 217 stations with over 4,500 members of staff; quite impressive really. This op is being written on the Weymouth – Waterloo route, one which I have become familiar with and has become familiar ...
...down from last year. South West Trains reliability report for Main Line routes is at around the 99.4%, which is slightly up on last year, but looking at the graph I can see that this year has gone up and down dramatically between 98% and 99.6%. Suburban reliability is at about 99%, which is slightly u from last year. A reliability report is how many trains were not cancelled. The strategic rail authority took all these measurements. Main Line ...

o_morris 04.10.2003 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...good things to say about south west trains. I regularly communte from Camberley to Richmond and I used to brave the train but I find driving there must more comfortable, despite the boredom of sitting in traffic jams on the M3. Are all their stations as grim as the ones that I see? The facilities are generally limited (no news kiosk) and the stations are grimy. Then you have the joy of waiting for your train - you could be waiting some time. Generally ...
...bad although they do seem to suffer from staff shortages regularly - trains are cancelled far too often due to waiting for train staff. You also have to queue for ages to get your ticket - the automatic machines never work when there is a queue. When your train pulls in you'll be in for a shock. They're truly disgusting! They are so filthy that you can't see out the windows at all. I always remember to wear darker clothes as the seats are more unclean ...

EmmaJ 17.01.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

--- I would like to add that I put my faith in SWT to upgrade their network over the next thirty years and let's hope that the 800 new trains are deliveres. --- I looked at my train yesterday. I looked at it again. Judging from its age and state, it could have been one that's been delayed from 1965 - it had definitely never been cleaned since then, anyway. I arrived at the station. So I went to the ticket counter: 'Can I have a ticket to Waterloo, ...
...you either had to ask him or the ageing machine which breaks your nails when you push the buttons. So there we go. First thing, poor service. But no doubt I'll come back to that later... So after around 20 minutes waiting in the cold - the waiting room was closed - and after forming a ten centimetre icicle on the end of my nose, the train finally arrived. So I eventually thought I would be able to sit down somewhere warm. Then I heard the man ...

danieletheridge 16.03.2001 (08.04.2001) · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

...to be a slave to South West Trains - well, sort of, because from Richmond to London, there is a 'choice' (LOL) of SWT, District Line or Silver Link. At least the latter two start from Richmond, so one can normally get a seat, but SWT, ostensibly faster, should be avoided whenever possible, particularly during rush hours. They are simply too crowded to get on, and on the rare occasions one is in such a hurry that one has to join the pushing, shoving, ...
...at each stop, that you might as well have taken the slower route in the first place. To be fair, outside rush hour, you can often get a hassle free ride to Waterloo. But so you should - it's not that far. Going westwards towards Portsmouth etc is a gamble. Will it make connections; can you make your meeting or should you aim at 2 trains earlier to be sure. (If you do, sod's law, it will be OK, and you can twiddle your thumbs the other end.) Still, ...

griffiti 14.08.2000 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains

This is going to sound kinda pathetic, but I had to go to Brookwood from Basingstoke. I asked the ticket man, the man on the platform and the man on the train. They all said that this train was goung to stop everywhere including Brookwood. Being a bit of a sceptic, I also looked up at the TV screen and it said the train was going to stop at Brookwood. So, I got on the train. The train stopped everywhere, Hook, Wichfield, Fleet and Farnborough. Then ...
...What a surprise, Brookwood at 70 mph is a blur, but it didn't help me. Obviously, I did not get off the train. When I got to Woking, the SWT customer services personnel were brilliant, apart from treating me like a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. They told me that my ticket was OK, but I should have asked somebody whether the train stopped at Brookwood. They also suggested, brilliantly as it happens, that I should romp across to platform 4, where ...

Scrote 01.03.2001 · Read full review
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Review of South West Trains