Steve Brine held a top-level meeting with South Western Rail, alongside senior officials and councillors on Friday 26th January to discuss the performance of the new franchise.
The Winchester & Chandler's Ford MP said it was a "very worthwhile" session, where he was able to address a number of concerns to SWR, including the proposed new timetable set for December 2018, the roll-out of part-time season tickets and thoughts on the new Delay Repay scheme.
WCC Cabinet members, Cllr Jan Warwick and Cllr Stephen Godfrey, also attended the session as they discussed various issues around Shawford station and Micheldever station.
Steve Brine said: "SWR were clear that, despite concerns from constituents over capacity, Winchester will receive extra capacity by December 2018, because of the way the service will be configured around different routes such as Portsmouth. Cutting a long story short, Winchester will see trains set at maximum formations, which will increase capacity at the station.
"We did have a further timetable concern around Shawford station, and have formally suggested an extra stop in the morning at Shawford which will be invaluable for students at Peter Symonds College and the University, and we await with interest news on that."
Mr Brine has long-campaigned on the issue of flexible ticketing (which includes part-time season tickets) and much of the meeting was dedicated to him sharing various thoughts from local commuters on the subject. He said: "SWR plan to announce a series of measures in the coming months, and will be in touch with me when news is forthcoming. The Delay Repay scheme will also be evolving, as I was clear that I have had complaints on this. I look forward to also hearing more, down the line, about this."
Cllr Stephen Godfrey said: "I was pleased we spent a lot of time covering the parking situation at Micheldever Station. There are possible land solutions for the parking issue, and there is also a specific issue which came to our attention around people travelling from outside our area to park here, which SWR are looking at extremely carefully."
Cllr Jan Warwick added: "There has been a lot of history around Shawford station and we went through the parking issues carefully. SWR have promised to work closely with me, and Steve Brine has offered to intervene further if needed."
SWR also agreed to take part in a special ASK SWR public event later which Steve Brine will hold later this year.
More information ...
Steve's dedicated trains pages online
