Government awards First MTR franchise to run South Western rail service

First MTR, which will start its operations on 20 August, takes over from Stagecoach, which has controlled the franchise for over two decades

The new franchise will see 22,000 extra seats into London Waterloo each morning peak, and 30,000 extra seats out of Waterloo each evening peak (Getty)

The Department for Transport has awarded Hong Kong-based MTR the franchise to run South Western rail services for seven years starting in August in partnership with FirstGroup.

In a surprise announcement on Monday, the Government said that the deal will allow passengers “to enjoy more space, more services and faster journeys”.

It said it “marks a new era in joined up working between train operators and Network Rail”.

First MTR, which will start its operations on 20 August, takes over from Stagecoach, which has controlled the franchise for over two decades, and will oversee a £1.2bn investment that the government says will improve journeys for millions of train passengers.

It said that the new franchise will see 22,000 extra seats into London Waterloo each morning peak, and 30,000 extra seats out of Waterloo each evening peak.

The investment will also result in a fleet of 90 new trains operating, which will provide more space for passengers on Reading, Windsor and London routes.

Existing trains will be fitted with charging sockets, new seat covers and refurbished toilets and the Government is also promising faster routes into London.

Travel times from Southampton will be cut by eight minutes, from Portsmouth by five minutes, from Reading by 10 minutes, from Hounslow by 12 minutes and from Salisbury by 11 minutes.

London-bound trains will leave earlier in the morning from several stations, including Twickenham, Hounslow, Windsor, Reading, Epsom, Guildford, Portsmouth and Salisbury, and leave later in the evening.

In December, analysis by the Independent found that Waterloo station is on course to be Europe’s first transport terminal to reach 200 million passengers in a year. The analysis found that the number of Tube users of the station is likely to exceed 100m by the end of 2015, with rail passengers at almost the same level.