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South Western Railway: Standards

Asked by Rachel BlakeLabour (Co-op)Department for TransportTabled Answered 5 January 2026UIN 101169

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to improve the performance of South Western Railway.

Answered by Keir Mather

The new Managing Director of South Western Railway (SWR), Lawrence Bowman, is responsible for both the infrastructure and operations of the SWR network. The new integrated team is working hard to address the issues inherited from the previous private sector operator. Officials are supporting SWR in the delivery of these improvements.

Performance is still below the level that passengers should expect but progress is being made. The number of Arterio trains in service has more than quadrupled under public ownership and SWR has accelerated the recruitment of drivers to address traincrew shortages. Also, over £2 billion of works is being delivered in the current five-year control period to help improve the resilience of railway infrastructure.

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