Wow i know these train companies take the **** but who wouldve thought 6 years
Anyway, when Picklebutton applied the operator of the South Western franchise was South West Trains. All in all, I don’t think its performance results were great and I don’t know what kind of investment plans they had, if they had any. Then in 2015 they heard from the DfT that the franchise would be relet. In the end, in March 2017 it was awarded to Southern Western Railway owned by First Group and MTR Corporation rather than leaving it with South west. SWR has a 1.2 billion investment plan and has made statements that they want to achieve certain targets as soon as December 2018. The have also stated they would recruit more drivers and guards on trains. Only statements, of course, we have to wait for the facts. Therefore my view is that we won’t see six years passing before hearing from HR; perhaps one, but six again seem to be out of discussion. The problem for SWR may be finding enough driver instructors, but I doubt is going to be a problem as big as what Thameslink is experiencing.