Winchester MP Steve Brine responded to a recent report from Passenger Focus which found ticket office queues at Winchester Railway Station are among the worst on the network.
The research looked at use of ticket machines which it says often fail to support passengers and merely add to ticket office queues.
Passenger Focus looked at some station ticket queues where passengers had reported ongoing queuing problems. The research shows how frequently queuing times exceed the industry requirement of five minutes during the peak and three minutes at off-peak times.
The longest queues were observed at Guildford, Basingstoke and Winchester.
Steve Brine said; "Many local people will remember our campaign several years ago to keep the Travel Centre open at the front of Winchester Railway Station. I argued then that while ticket machines have their place many customers are not always confident when making complex or less-familiar journeys and need help from staff. We said the knock-on effect would be longer queues and inconvenience at the ticket office in Winchester and this research clearly backs that up.
"I am a regular commuter myself between Winchester and London and the train service has improved measurably in recent years but this has not always been matched by performance at the station. South West Trains must address this urgently because we want to do everything possible to encourage use of the train not turn people away."
Steve is now seeking a meeting with SWT and local Passenger Groups shortly.
